


Fiction vs Past

by Markiepooh



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Betrayal, Bottom Han Jisung | Han, Character Death, Cheating, Emotional Manipulation, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Manipulation, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Rape/Non-con Elements, Revenge, ancient, multiple stories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:55:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 74,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29510712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Markiepooh/pseuds/Markiepooh
Summary: This practically is multiple stories in one book thingy.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Han Jisung | Han, Han Jisung | Han & Everyone, Han Jisung | Han/Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung | Han/Kim Seungmin, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Felix, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han/Seo Changbin, Han Jisung | Han/Yang Jeongin | I.N
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

"Okey dokey yohh. Is that true? Yes okey dokey yohh"

Jisung groaned and got up from his bed. It was Monday again. The worst day of the week. Jisung got ready went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. He took his favourite cereal out of the pantry and poured it into the bowl. He opened the fridge and saw that there is not milk left.

"Fuck, Could this day get worse than no food?" Well only if he knew that it could.

Jisung decided to have his cereal without milk. He took a spoonful of his favourite cereal and put it in his mouth as he was walking towards the living room. Big mistake. Before he could swallow his food, he slipped on a carpet and accidentally swallowed his cereal. He starter to cough until he was out of breath.

'Is this how I am going to die, I cannot die. I can't leave my family and friends' He couldn't breathe, his vision was getting blurry before it fully turned black.

[ Ding!.... scanning... The compatibility is 100%, binding... System binding successful! ]

'What is happening? Did I survive?' Jisung tried to open his eyes but failed.

[ Hello, Host! I'm system 0019. Since your death was unexpected, you are given a chance to be reborn but before that, you have to complete tasks from us ]

"Is this some transmigration bullshit?" Jisung has read many transmigration novels and knew this scene very well.

[ Yes but no, Host. Since you know about this I will give you a very brief description of your tasks. You will travel to different novels and complete the tasks I give you. Are you willing to do this? ]

"If I can be reborn again then yes. How many novels do I have to travel?" 

[ I'm sorry but I don't know that host. Anyways let's transmigrate into our first world ]

Jisung was lying on a branch listening to the fight happening below him. No one seemed to notice him on the branch.

'System give me information about this novel'

[ This is a fantasy and romance novel. The main character of this world is Yang Jeongin and the love interest if this world is Hwang Hyunjin. The original owner of this body is Han Jisung who is a Master of Devil Religion. His left hand and his long-time crush is Jeongin. Jeongin was brought here by Jisung's father when he was young. He was always nurtured in the Devil Religion.

Han Jisung was very arrogant and rude. He only has a soft spot for Jeongin. He hated everything and everyone except for Jeongin. Jeongin on the other hand was different. He hated hurting innocent people recklessly. He cared about living his life morally without committing any sins.

While Jeongin was on a mission to catch a rapist, he was drugged by the same rapist he was seeking. After escaping from the rapist he met Hyunjin ( son of the leader of Righteous path) in a cave on the cliff. Hyunjin was hiding from being hunted down. Because of the effects of the drug Hyunjin and Jeongin made love in the cave. This was the start of their secret relationship.

After Han Jisung found out that Jeongin liked his enemy, he became it of control. He started to bully innocent people from the Righteous Path. Jeongin couldn't take all of this and left the Devil Religion. After Jeongin left Han Jisung went crazier and started to recklessly kill even more people. In the end, Jisung was stabbed by Hyunjin in the heart and died.

Your task is to make Jeongin fall in love with you.

Right now according to the novel Jeongin is going to be bullied by the villagers who are fighting. The original owner couldn't help seeing Jeongin being bullied so he killed them. Jeongin didn't approve of this and started an argument. From now on you are in charge of the body. I will not help you much. Remember, you cannot reveal that you are from different dimension ]

"Alright thank you system"


	2. :)

TW: mentions of rape

Jisung thought about what to do next carefully and concluded. He will wait until the last second to intervene with the fight.

He saw Jeongin fighting with the villagers. He was not worried about Jeongin because Jeongin was really good at martial arts.

Villagers were non-other than people from the Righteous path. The villagers were worried about being humiliated by a person from Devil Religion and took something out of his pocket. He scattered it over when Jeongin was off guard.

Jeongin felt severe pain in his eye. His sword on his hand paused. The man took a knife

'Now is the time' Jisung thought.

The man threw the knife at Jeongin, but the knife stopped midair as if an invisible block blocked it. Jisung stopped the knife with a very thin red thread which was very had to see.

"Who is it?" shouted the man.

"Aren't you from the Righteous path? Isn't it illegal to play these types of tricks?" Jisung asked as he flew down from the tree.

"Jisung!" A group of villagers screamed.

Jisung was well known among the Martial world. He was also known for his God-given good looks. Jisung's appearance was on the top in the martial world. Jisung wore a dark red robe. He had a long hair tied in a ponytail only two strands sticking out in the front.

"Master, what brings you here?" Jeongin was surprised.

"I was just passing by. I am not late right?" Jeongin shook his head.

"You group of demons!!!" man from the Righteous Path shouted.

" I advise you to admit your mistake, and I will consider you getting back to your place alive. If not I will make you regret coming here," Jisung warned.

Original Jisung hated the Righteous Path because they were the one who murdered his parents. His mother was a member of the Righteous path while his father was from the Devil Religion. His father fell into their trap, and his mother was burned by the members of the Righteous Path.

If Jisung wanted to gain Jeongin's favourability now he cannot kill the innocents. The original owner really cared for Jeongin. He was too much of a tsundere to admit them. He always was helping Jeongin. He was just worried that Jeongin will have the same fate as his parents which is one of the reasons why he hated that Jeongin likes Hyunjin.

"Who gave you permission to attack my people?" Jisung asked.

"Just wait and see" the group of people ran away.

As soon as they left Han Jisung took a bottle and gave it to Jeongin.

"There's no need for it, Master,"

"Just take it," Jeongin didn't refuse again and took the bottle. He took a pill out of it and swallowed it. There was an awkward silence between them. Jeongin started to laugh.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing," Jeongin was smiling. "Where are you going, Master?"

Jisung was playing with his hands while thinking for an excuse. "I'm going to buy something. Aren't you going to go catch the rapist?"

There was a lot of rapists these years. Jeongin was after the most popular one, Minho.

Minho like to leave a mark after raping someone. He leaves a dried rose after raping someone.

Jeongin is after Minho because he raped Jeongin's subordinates wife. After Minho raped her, the wife has been depressed and crying every day. She was trying to push his husband away. Witnessing this Jeongin couldn't take it and started to hunt Seonjun.

The original owner insisted on going with Jeongin to hunt Minho. But without him noticing Jeongin got drugged and kidnapped. Even though Minho drugged Jeongin, he didn't get the chance to rape him. 

Jeongin and Jisung went their separate ways. Jisung went back to his place. He bathed and put some clean clothes. He laid on his bed thinking when he heard a knock. 

"Come in," Jisung got up to sit on his bed. 

Jeongin came in. He saw Jisung sitting on the bed with wet hair. Jisung's collarbones were exposed because the robe was not tied properly. Jisung noticed his robe and tried to tie it properly. Jeongin saw how fragile and vulnerable looked while tieing his robe. He saw Jisung's long smooth fingers. He has the urge to lick them. 

"What's up?" Jisung asked after tieing up his robe. Jisung got up and opened the window.

"It's freezing, you will catch a cold," 

"It's fine, take a seat," Jisung pointed at the chair beside his bed. "What's the matter? asked Jisung.

"It is said that Minho came into our Skzoo city and assaulted a girl. He hasn't left the city for the past two days. We need to find him quickly."

"More guards should be assigned to the city so there will be enough people to guard the area around the clock. And people leaving the city should be checked strictly." Jisung looked outside, his head resting on his right hand. His sleeves slid down revealing his smooth arm. People were crying and some people setting out candy stores. 

Jisung tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. He met the gaze of a man below. The man was wearing a black hat and cheap black robe. The man lowered his head when he met Jisung's gaze.

Jisung didn't pay much attention to him. Because of this, he didn't notice the wicked smile the man had.

Jeongin followed Jisung's line of sight and saw nothing.

"Minho is known to be really handsome but I am sure his beauty can't beat yours, Master," Jeongin said.

"Of course no one can beat my beauty," Jisung said arrogantly to maintain his character.

"That's why isn't it better to cover your face?" Jeongin handed Jisung something.

"Sure," Jisung didn't want to reject Jeongin so he accepted it.

At night

The window was pushed by someone and someone hopped inside. The guy approached the bed gently. He reached out to lift the blanket when red threads appeared from inside and wrapped around him. The man didn't hesitate to retreat.

The blanket was pulled open and Jisung sat up. Minho saw Jisung only wearing a red inner robe and with hair spreading on the bed. Minho was staring at this seductive scene. He took a rose and have it to Jisung. Minho only left a rose after he achieved his goal. However, he gave Jisung the rose not which means his target is Jisung.

"I've been looking for you, Minho,"

Jisung noticed that Minho was the man gazing at him earlier.

Minho's appearance didn't disappoint him. His smile was really eye-catching.

"The flower matches your beauty, don't you think so?" Minho smiled.

Jisung took the flower and crushed it. Powders flew from the flower.

"Does it mean you accepted my flower?" Minho asked.


	3. :)

TW: attempted rape

Jisung immediately put on an unpleasant look.  
"That portrait really doesn't do you any justice, master. If I knew you were so pretty, I wouldn't have missed your room when I was in your faction that day," Minho said while staring at Jisung.

He was referring to the day when he was looking for Jeongin's sub-co-ordinates wife.

"Do you have what it takes to get me?" yelled Jisung. A few threads flew towards Minho from Jisung's palm. Minho blocked them effortlessly. 

"Good things are always hard to get."

"Today you will die in my hands," Minho smiled at Jisung and escaped from the window. 

"Stay there!" Jisung chased after Minho. Minho stood on the tip of the roof. His robe flying due to the wind. Jisung finally caught up to him. Because Jisung was in hurry, he didn't have shoes on. He stood on the tip of the roof barefoot.

Minho was staring at his foot. Minho didn't believe the rumours when they said Jisung was really good looking but seeing Jisung now, he knows the rumours are true. If Minho have seen Jisung earlier, he would've not waited until this day.

"You offended my followers, today you will be punished!"

"If you wish to punish me in bed, I'm all yours," Jisung got angrier after hearing Minho's words.

"I hope you can say these kinds of bullshits when you are in prison,"

"Well I do have my mouth when I am in prison, don't I?" 

"YOU WILL DIE TODAY!" Jisung released red threads from his palms. The threads tied Minho up and wrapped around his neck. 

Pair of feet stoop in front of Minho. Minho looked up and saw Jisung's black hair flutter in the wind. His lips were curled downwards. His looks made Minho's lower half tense up.

"Master, you are a rare beauty." Jisung got angrier.

"I'll cut your tongue off when I'm back." Jisung was about to use his inner energy to knock Minho out when he got weak all of a sudden. His body collapsed instead of falling off of the roof, he fell into a warm embrace. Without Jisung's energy, these threads turned into ordinary threads.

"What is this?!" He stared at Minho angrily.

"Master, don't stare at me like that, I'll be shy," Minho held Jisung in his arms, caressing Jisung's hands.

"I gave you a rose but you destroyed it," Jisung gritted his teeth. 

Minho started to undo the laces in Jisung's robe. "Btw master it had disabling powder and little bit aphrodisiac effects."

"I will kill you! Don't you dare!" Minho tied Jisung's red threads around him.

Jisung felt something hard against his waist. Jisung looked beyond disgusted. Minho looked at Jisung and sighed. He had been a womaniser for so many years but why was he acting like a teenager for just hugging Jisung?

"Master, you don't have to be like this. Think of it as just a one-night stand. You are not a woman, so stop caring about virginity. As long as both of us keep it a secret, no one will know,"

'Is this what Jeongin had to go through before, I will definitely kill this jerk.' Jisung thought.

"Master, if you are not content with a one-night stand, our relationship can last every night," Minho winked at Jisung. Jisung was red-cheeked with rage but speechless.

Minho looked at Jisung's eyelids and licked them. 

"Master, where should we go? Should we do it outside or an inn?" Jisung closed his eyes, unwilling to look at Minho.

Jisung couldn't believe Jeongin went through all of this. Why did Minho fall for Jisung instead of Jeogin this time? He remembered the original Jisung didn't open the window that day. Minho was teasing Jisung, removing Jisung's clothes slowly. 

"I will kill you bitch!" Jisung threatened. Minho lowered his head sucking on Jisung's neck. 

"As you wish, Master," Minho whispered into Jisung's ears and licked it.

A loud sound was heard on the roof.

"Put him down." Jeongin's voice sounded cold. He pointed at Minho with his sword. Minho carried Jisung and ran away on the roofs. 

"Stop right there!" Jeongin screamed behind them.

Minho brought Jisung to a hilltop.

"Be good, I'll go solve the problem." Minho put something in Jisung's mouth.

"Jerk! What did you give me?"

"It's nothing serious," The pill would just deprive him of his martial skills for a short time. Jisung felt his body get feverish. He tried his best to keep himself from falling down the hill. Jisung saw a sign saying 'Mount JYP'

'Didn't original Jisung die here?'

"Bastard, what did you do to Master?" Jeongin who arrived asked. Minho who fell in love with Jeongin in the original novel didn't even want to look at Jeongin. He took his sword and charged at Jeongin. The two of them fought immediately. 

Jisung started to lose the very last of his powers. He couldn't keep himself from falling anymore.

"Master!" Jeongin screamed. Jeongin ran to the tip of the hill and looked down. He yelled at the top of his voice. Minho ran away seeing Jeongin occupied.

The moment Jisung's body was in air, he woke up. He soon lost his consciousness. When he woke up again, he found himself lying in a cave. There was a log fire burning beside him. Jisung tried to sit up, but he failed. He forced himself to sit up and saw his leg was broken. He must've broken it when he fell down the cliff. His legs were tied up with some herbs. He remembered that the cliff he fell off was the same cliff Jeongin fell off when he was about to be raped. Jeongin was then saved by Hyunjin. Jeongin then slept with Hyunjin because he was unable to endure the effects of the aphrodisiac effects. So does that mean Jisung was rescued by Hyunjin?

The sound of shoes stepping on rocks came from the cave.

"Who are you?" Jisung asked even though he had a rough idea who he is.

"I'm Hyunjin," Jisung was speechless. Of course, it was him. He really messed up the story plot. 

"Where're my clothes?" Jisung asked Hyunjin. 

"A few days ago, I found you by the stream. Your clothes had been scratched at that time and soaked in the water. I was afraid you would catch a cold, so I helped you change. Your leg is broken, so don't walk around these days," Hyunjin blushed while saying.

"How long have I slept?"

"Two days. Would you like the rabbit or fish?"

"The rabbit, please." Jisung hated boning the fish.

"Go and make the fire." Jisung took two flints and tried to make fire. He was unable to lit the fire for a long time. Hyunjin turned to look at Jisung and then he couldn't look away from the man for a long time. His beauty was beyond anything.

"Just leave it to me," Hyunjin took the flints and lit the fire instantly.

"What is your name?"

"Peter," Jisung didn't dare to say his real name. "Oh, what a weird name," said Hyunjin. Jisung just rolled his eyes.

"It's ready. Be careful not to burn your mouth." Hyunjin handed roasted rabbit to Jisung. Jisung saw Hyunjin was injured. "How did you get injured?"

"One of my enemies did this when hunting me down."

"You're done?" Hyunjin was surprised as to how little Jisung ate. 

"Yes." Hyunjin took the leftover and ate it. After eating Hyunjin took the leftover bones and went to throw it out. When he came back into the cave, he saw Jisung asleep. 

Since Hyunjin was the young master of Righteous Path it was normal for him to not recognise Jisung because Jisung's picture would only appear in storybooks and not in common books. People from Righteous Path only read common books.

"Cold," Jisung whimpered in his sleep. Hyunjin heard this and padded Jisung. "Excuse me," He then reached out to pull Jisung into his arm. Jisung warmed up a little. 

Jisung woke up the next day alone. He assumed Hyunjin went out again. He stood up by clinging to the wall. When he tried to move his leg would hurt. Hyunjin entered the cave.

"Why are you up?" Hyunjin ran to Jisung and supported Jisung.

"To wash my face." 

"Just leave it to me. Your leg is broken, don't move around anymore." Hyunji took a bucket and went to fetch some water. He came back and helped him wash his face. Jisung saw that Hyunjin's jade pendant was missing and there were new medicines here.

"Where is your jade pendant?" Hyunjin looked shocked.

"Maybe I dropped it somewhere," Hyunjin said. Lies.

That night Jisung was shaken awake by Hyunjin. Before Jisung could react he was carried by Hyunjin.

"Hey.."

"Don't talk, I'll take you away. If it doesn't work, I'll hide you and lure those people away."

"Then you.." He had to hide.

"You don't have to worry about me. These people are here for me, not for you."

"Over there!" Someone yelled. "Stop!"

Hyunjin ran as fast as he could. Jisung was panicking, he didn't want them to die.

'Why aren't you hiding'

Hyunjin was injured, so it was difficult for him to carry someone on his back. Jisung thought, even though Jeongin fell for aphrodisiac effect, he still had his martial arts skills. He is so useless right now. Just as he was thinking something stabbed into his body. Hearing Jisung grunt, Hyunjin panicked a little. He put Jisung down.

"Wait for me." Hyunjin started to fight with the assassins, The assassins were startled by Hyunjin's martial art skills. Understanding they can't win over Hyunjin, one of the assassins looked over at Jisung. The assassin took Jisung and put his hand around Jisung's throat.

"Let him go!" Hyunjin shouted scaring Jisung a bit.

"We will let him go if you cripple your martial arts." Assassin offered.

Jisung wanted to laugh. Obviously, he is not Jeongin so why would he cripple his martial arts to save him. When he saw Hyunjin raise his hands, the smile on his face froze.

'What is this dumb bitch doing? Is he that dumb?' Jisung thought.

"HYUNJIN! Don't do it! Do you really trust these piece of shits?" Jisung screamed. The hand around his neck tightened.

"I won't let you die!" Hyunjin's eyes were red.

'Hyunjin stop! If you know who I am you wouldn't do this!' Jisung thought. Jisung's eyes started to tear up. The moment Hyunjin crippled his martial arts skill a voice was heard.

"Leader!" Jisung immediately knew who it was. it was Jisung's right protector Changbin.

A dark-haired man jumped out, attacking the men holding Jisung captive. Changbin then hugged Jisung.

"Master, are you alright?" Changbins eyes teared up. 

"It's Changbin from Devil Religion! Retreat fast!" Everyone including Hyunjin were shocked.

"You dared to offend my Master. I will kill all of you without mercy!" Changbin's eyes turned fierce. Hearing Changbin members of Devil Religion rushed towards the assassins and killed all of them. Even though there were more assassins they couldn't win over the members of Devil Religion. Changbin's attention went to Hyunjin. "Kill him too," Changbin ordered.

"Wait!" Jisung yelled before they could attack Hyunjin. "He saved me, let him go," Jisung said to Changbin. Hyunjin was dazed. He knew he couldn't be in contact with Jisung anymore because they are enemies. Somewhere in his heart ached.

"Let him go!" Changbin ordered. 

"You... you are still poisoned. If you search the assassins you will find an antidote," Hyunjin said. Changbin judged Hyunjin. He knew his Master was immune to poison so he snorted and carried Jisung away.

Hyunjin was filled with disappointment. Why did Jisung have to be the Master of Devil Religion?

\--------

"Why are you here?" Jisung asked Changbin while leaning into his arms.

"Jeongin told us that you fell down the cliff. I got scared so I gathered our member and came to search down the hill. Jeongin and his group went to the east side while we came to the west side." Jisung weakly nodded. He got sad remembering the look Hyunjin gave him. He felt like crying. 

In the original story, he treated Jeongin differently because they slept together even though Jeongin was from Devil Religion. He still was a righteous man who hates evils. Now he found out that Jisung has lied to him, the next time they meet each other they would be opposite of each other fighting.

Jisung has to steal Jeongin's heart before he dies.

Jisung was in bed rest for a week. His martial arts returned to him on the third day. Jeongin made some chicken soup for Jisung and was going to Jisung's room when Changbin stopped him.

"Who is the chicken soup for?"

"For master" after answering Jeongin walked past Changbin who was dazed. Changbin noticed that Jeongin has become more attentive towards the master after the accident. Every meal for Jisung was prepared by Jeongin. Changbin disliked Jeongin because he was not disciplined. He never respected Jisung and always relied on him.

\--------

Jisung was restless these past days. Every day he dreamed of getting killed by Hyunjin. It was just like in the original plot, getting stabbed in the heart.

When Jeongin arrived he saw Jisung sitting by the window. He was wearing a red silk robe and looked really thin. Jisung turned around when he heard footsteps. When he saw it was Jeongin, his eyes instantly lit up. If anyone dared to fight Hyunjin, it is Jeongin. As long as he didn't do something Jeongin dislikes, Jeongin would be on his side.

"I bought you chicken soup," Jeongin said softly. Jisung was surprised.

'Did Jeongin just speak softly to me. I am one step closer to success.' Jisung thought. Jisung tried to take the chicken soup but was stopped by Jeongin.

"Allow me," Jisung's eyes lit up even more hearing this. When Jeongin saw Jisung's eye lit up, he couldn't help but feel hurt. Jisung has done so much for him but he was too dumb to realise that.

\--------

After a month Jisung recovered fully. He hasn't gone put in ages, so he called Jeongin to go out with him. On the way out they were stopped by Changbin who looked hurt.

"I want to go too," Jisung was embarrassed by Changbin and nodded. Finally, the three went down the mountain.

Even though Changbin looks intimating, he is just a softball. In the original story, Changbin died the same day Jisung died. Changbin took his sword and went to take revenge on Hyunjin. Even though Changbin was powerful he was no match for Hyunjin. When Hyunjin wanted to kill Changbin, Jeongin stopped him. But Changbin didn't appreciate the favour.

He yelled with tears in his eyes "Jeongin! Our Master was really blind to save you back then (A/N: Original Jisung was stabbed in the heart when trying to save Jeongin ). If I had known earlier I would have broken your bones and burned you into ashes!" 

After yelling at Jeongin he said "Master, I, Seo Changbin, am not an ungrateful person as the man in front of me. This life belongs to you," After saying that he stabbed himself in the heart. Changbins thought was filled with Jisung while dying.

\--------

Jisung will not let Changbin end up with the same fate as the original story. 

"Master, you favour Jeongin so much, aren't you discriminating again me? Do you want me to commit suicide," Changbin asked. Jisung looked at Changbin speechlessly.

"I will come to afterlife and murder you if you dare to kill yourself," Jisung told Changbin with a straight face which scared Changbin. 

Finally, they reached the town. They put on a mask to hide their identities. The town was full of people. It was really colourful. Jisung has not been to the town and was curious about everything asking about everything. He ran around the whole capital. They saw a small store selling beautiful rocks. It was a rock gambling place. some of the rocks had crystals inside while some were ordinary rocks. Jisung picked one rock

"Changbin what do you think about this rock?" 

"It's pretty!"

"What about this?" 

"It's Beautiful!"

"...What about this?"

"Pretty! Since you like all of them, let's buy them all!" Jisung noticed how unreliable Changbin is and was depressed. He didn't know which to pick so he just had to blindly pick one. Before he could take one, another hand reached out and took a rock.

"This one," Jeongin said.

Changbin saw Jeongin choose rock, so he picked a bigger and better-looking one and passed it to Jisung. "Take this!"

Jisung was at loss. He should probably pick Jeongin's because he was the main character but he also wanted Changbin's rock. 

"Do we have enough money to buy them both?" Jisung looked at Jeongin. Jeongin was surprised by Jisung's question.

"....Yes," Jeongin replied. Jisung face lit up immediately. 

"Then I will take both!" Jisung practically screamed.

When they were about to open the rock Chanbin yelled: "Open mine first!"

Jisung was sure it was gonna be an ordinary rock. And his guess was right. Jeongin is the main character, everyone who is not him will have bad luck.

"Well, it is rock gambling. It is nothing," Jisung said as he saw Changbin tearing up. Jeongin saw how Changbin was about to rush and hug Jisung and pulled Jisung behind him. "We are outside don't attract too much attention," Jeongin said coldly.

Jisung adjusted his mask. 

"Open the next one," Jeongin said.

Jisung opened the next one and saw beautiful red crystals inside which are worth a lot. The owner of the stall saw this and his face dropped. Jisung gave the crystals to Changbin and rubbed his stomach. It was time for food.

"Let's go eat." They all went to Ahgase restaurant. They went into their stall and ordered their food. As Jisung, Changbin and Jeongin were talking there was a commotion from below. 

"What does that mean? We booked it yesterday!" 

"Yeah, how come it is gone today?" 

"We are sorry , we were so busy that we forgot," the waiter said.

"You forgot?" A guy grabbed the waiters collar. 

"We need a stall now!" Waiter was scared. The guy was much stronger than him. Waiter came up the stairs to Jisung's stall.

"It can't be ours right?" Jisung asked.

Changbin stood up opened the stall door. The waiter was shocked to see Changbin.

"Dear customers, this stall was already booked and we made a mistake. What about this? we won't accept any coins from you guys?"

Changbin snorted "Why?"

"This.." Waiter looked at Jisung. Jisung just sat there like he didn't care. Jeongin wanted to say something but stopped.

Before waiter could continue there was pair footsteps behind him. Jisung noticed that one of them had a familiar jade pendant. Jisung suddenly stood up.

"Master?" both Jeongin and Changbin said at the same time.

"Let's go, let them have the stall," Jisung said and took his mask from the table.

They were about to leave when a man called. "Young master!"

"What? Want to fight?" Jisung asked.

"No--no I am Seokjin a noble from here. May I know your name?"

"Lord Faartz." Jisung said it with a straight face that Seokjin believed it.

"Lord...Fartz. Well anyways if you obediently follow me back to my house, I will let you live." He stared at Jisung coldly. Jisung was speechless. He put his mask on.

"You can try," Without waiting for Seokjin to say anything, Jisung raised his hand and red threads wrapped around Seokjin's neck. Seokjin reached out to his neck with fear in his eyes.

"Help," Jisung, Jeongin and Changbin were stunned. Seokjin was filled with fear which made him even more weak. His voice attracted the attention of the entire restaurant. 

"Let's go," Jisung grabbed Changbin's sleeve and pushed towards the window. "Hurry and go."

"Mas-" Jeongin interrupted Changbin and said: "Shut up and go!" Their escape was really important right now. Changbin jumped down the window.

"Stop!" 

"Save me!" Seokjin screamed when he saw two people with martial arts clothes.

Jisung looked up. He felt helpless. Hyunjin stepped in front of Seokjin and looked up coldly at Jeongin and Jisung. 

"You are not from this city, right? I wonder if there will be ultimatum to clear the level of those who enter the city?"

"Coming up with a ultimatum doesn't seem like a gentleman's stye." Jeongin stood in front of Jisung and looked at Hyunjin coldly.

'This is their first time meeting and they are opposite of each other' Jisung thought.

Hyunjin tried look at the person behind Jeongin but that person was wearing golden mask. He looked at that person's lips and jaw. He couldn't help but feel that the person is familiar.

"Sirs what are your names?" Hyunjin asked.

"You don't deserve to know," Jeongin said. The person beside Hyunjin drew his sword.

"Sirs, you hurt an innocent person, don't you think your actions are rebellious?" Jeongin looked at a small wound on Seokjin's neck, "He was the one who was rude. We just punished him." Jisung looked at Jeongin in surprise. In the original text, when this happened Jeongin said the other was innocent.

"Let's just go," Jisung whispered into Jeongin's ear. They both then jumped out of the window.

"Stop!" Hyunjin jumped out of the window and followed. The person beside Hyunjin also followed them. 

Jisung and Jeongin were stopped by Hyunjin. Hyunjin and Jeongin started to fight. Hyunjin had more martial arts skill that Jeongin. Jisung saw that Hyunjin was about to hit Jeongin and pulled Jeongin to the side. He then raised his hands and red threads wrapped around Hyunjin's sword and pulled towards the side. 

"Who the hell are you?" Hyunjin looked at Jisung angrily. 

"We have no spite between us, why are you chasing us?" Jisung exclaimed.

The person beside Hyunjin arrived and fought with Jeongin. Jeongin had higher skill that the person. After beating the young man, Jeongin attention went to Hyunjin. He raised his sword and was aiming for Hyunjin's back. Jisung's pupil strunk when he noticed this. He didn't want to hurt Hyunjin. He kicked Hyunjin away. 

Jeongin tried to stop his sword but it directly cut Jisung's chest.

"Leader!" Jeongin pulled Jisung into his embrace. "Are you alright, Mater?"

Jisung grabbed Jeongin's hand and said,"Let's go back."

"What did you call him?" Hyunjin asked. However, Jeongin didn't pay any attention to him and carried Jisung away. Hyunjin wanted to follow but something was thrown at him which blocked his eyesight.  
Hyunjin coughed and went to look at the member from his group. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine. But do you know who it was?" the young man asked.

Hyunjin looked down and answer, "No I don't." Of course Hyunjin knew who it was. The only leader who can fight with red threads is the master of Devil Religion.


	4. :)

"Is the Martial Union competition going to be arranged?" Jisung asked.

"Yes sir," 

"Rumor has it that they have been trained the secret technique of Righteous Path to win the competition. I have heard Hyunjin hates evil a lot, If they hate evil a lot, I am afraid they will start with us," Jeongin said hesitantly.

"My mother has taught me the first half of the technique before, but before she could teach me the other half..." Jisung paused. "The technique is really powerful. Only Hyunjin has mastered the technique besides his father. I have searched for the technique many times before but I am afraid I can't anymore if it is in Hyunjin's hands..."

"Master, I am willing to help you take back the second half of the technique," Jeongin stepped forward.

"No," Jisung turned to look at Changbin. "You go."

"You must be careful when you go there," Jisung told Changbin.

"I will, Master," Changbin left after saying that.

"Why didn't you let me go?" Jeongin asked in confusion. "Changbin is reckless and might expose himself."

"Changbin's concealment ability is higher than yours. I was afraid something might happen to you." Jeongin's heart skipped a beat hearing this.

"I have another task for you," Jisung looked at Jeongin. "Sleep with me." 

Jeongin widened his eye. Deep down he felt joy.

"No no, I don't mean it like that."

"Three days ago when I was bathing, the maid left me for a second. That moment Minho came into the bathroom. After we fought, he left. I want you to sleep in my bedroom to protect me," Jisung explained.

Jeongin was kind of disappointed but still happy that he could sleep there. He nodded.

\--------

"I asked them to prepare two bathtubs, let's go," Jisung said.

"It's alright, I will wash after you, master," Jeongin blushed.

"Are you shy?" Jisung teased Jeongin. In the end they both bathed together. Jisung leaned agains the bath barrel closing his eyes, relaxing. Jeongin stared at Jisung.

"Jeongin," 

"Yes," Jeongin panicked and blushed.

"Why are you red?" Jisung asked Jeongin.

"It's nothing, master," Before Jisung could say something, a voice came from outside.

"Master, this is bad," Jisung and Jeongin dressed up and went to look what happened. He saw Changbin lying on the bed. The doctor was giving him pulse.

"How is he?"

"There are some wounds on his body. However, the worst part is that he was poisoned by the Week t poison." After Jisung heard that he got scared.

If he doesn't find the antidote within a week, Changbin will die. Even there were many cures for poison's in the Devil Religion, there was none for the Week Flower poison. The poison was Righteous Path's poison for which only they had the cure for.

Jeongin read Jisung's mind and pulled him towards him. "Master, I know what you want to do. Don't act without thinking. You are their goal, if you act without thinking you both might lose your life."  
"You're right." Jisung said. "Take care of him," he told Jeongin.

Two day's later the Martial Union Competition was held.

"Is there anyone else?! Are there anyone who wants to challenge our young master?" 

Hyunjin stood in the middle of the arena. He wore black suit with gold belt.

"Then I will announce Righteous Path young master as the win-" Before he could finish it group of people flew from the sky.

"Mater of Devil Religion!" Some onlooker screamed.

Jisung came. He was wearing red robe with black belt and his hair was tied up. 

"I heard that the Righteous Path's young master is very skilled in martial arts, then I will challenge you today, I wonder if i winn would young master reward me?" Hyunjin was stunned.

"Martial Union doesn't welcome anyone from Devil Religion," Someone from the crowd yelled. Jisung just smiled at that person. In the next second the person was sent flying and crased into a stone and spat mouthful of blood.

"Jisung, you are so evil," "You are going againt the heaven," curses can be heard among the audience.

"Jisung, you dare!" Someone attacked Jisung and he fell backwards.

"Master!" Jeongin shouted.

"Father," Hyunjin said respectfully.

"Master, are you alright?" Jeongin asked worriedly.

"I am fine, don't worry," Jisung assured. "Give me the recovery pill," Jeongin handed Jisung a recovery pill. The pill can temporarily suppress Jisung's injuries.

"Master Hwang, long time no see," Jisung smiled but his eyes didn't smile. This person was the one who killed the original characters mother.

"What are you doing here? Coming into a trap?" 

"You could say that. But I came to give Martial Union competition a try since it is supposed to be for everyone who practises martial arts. Are you guys or allowing me to join because you know you can't beat me?" Jisung smirked.

"Don't be arrogant! You and you mother have the same mouth!"

"SHUT UP! You don't have the right to mention my mother!"

"Master Hwang, you should be grateful that I let you live these days." Jisung continued.

"If it wasn't your mother, I would've gone to Devil Religion and strangled you to death when you were an infant."

"Oh don't say that. If you didn't kill me, it was for your reputation. You didn't want someone to slander you for murdering your sister's child, slandering you for killing a powerless baby. You are really selfish. Killing people for falling in love and even saying you are righteous. I am really curious, when you go to bed are you able to rest well knowing you killed innocent people?"

"Shut up!" "Today I will remove a mistake which is you!" Master Hwang said. Hyunjin stopped him.

"Today, father is here to host the competiton. Let me handle this." Hyunjin said. Master Hwang looked at Hyunjin hesistantly.

"My Righteous Path technique has been mastered, so I want to fight against him."

"Alright, you better not disappoint me."

"Don't worry, father."

Jisung wanted to go up on stage, but he was stopped by Jeongin.

"Master, if you are going to bet with him, why don't you just ask for the cure. He wouldn't not give the cure infront of many people," Jeongin said.

"But can we guarantee he would give the right one?" Jeongin understood what he meant.

"Bring you people back later, don't worry nothing will happen to me." Jisung went up the stairs.

"We meet again."

"How about this, If I lose, you can punish me however you want, what do you say?" Hyunjin was stunned.

The words 'do whatever you want' kept replying playing on his mind. 

"What if you win?" Hyunjin asked shaking his impure thoughts away.

"I want the second half of the Righteous Path's technique."

"Righteous Path's technique?"

"Wouldn't I overtake the world if I obtain the Righteous Path's technique?"

"That's right, we can't give it to them." Someone from the audience shouted.

Jisung's patience was running out. "What do you say?" 

"Alright," Hyunjin pulled out the sword from his waist. They both fought. There skills were evenly matched. Hyunjin used the second half of the Righteous Path's technique and beat Jisung. Jisung tried to fight but somethng was blocking him from fighting back, when Hyunjin saw Jisung not resisting he wanted to withdraw but was too late. In the end Hyunjin won. (A/N: I am too lazy to write the whole fight scene.) Jisung spit mouthful of blood.

"Master!" Jeongin who arrived againto where the competition was screamed. He ran to the stage and hugged Jisung. Hyunjin felt his heart tighten when he witnessed the scene.

"Let go, it's alright." Jisung looked at Jeongin's worried face and laughed. "I have never seen you so worried like this. Go back I'll be fine," Jisung said.

"If anything happens to Mater, I won't let anyone go!" "Let's go" Jeongin and other members of Devil Religion left.

"Well done, son!" Master Hwang praisen Hyunjin.

"Someone push this bastard into water prison!"

"Father! He is injured and the water prison is the worst place to put him now!"

"I failed to destroy the roots of Devil Religion before and I will not fail now."

\--------

It has been three days already since Jisung was sent to the water prison. His hands were tied and his lower body was immersed in water. There were many poisonous creatured in the water like water snakes. However, Jisung is immune to all of these, so he was fine.

Since the water prison was spacious a sound of footsteps could be heard very clearly. It was Hyunjin. The people behind Hyunjin walked over and pulled the iron chain bound to Jisung.

"Are you dead yet? Our young master to see you." Suddenly the young men were pulled into the water. Jisung smiled.

"Go pull them out." Hyunjin ordered few men. Jisung slowly raised his head and met Hyunjin's eye. Hyunjin looked at Jisung, who looked seductive.

"Is it fun?" Hyunjin had small bit of tenderness in his voice. Jisung smiled and looked at him with confused eyes.

"Don't go hurting others." There was not the slightest bit of blaming in Hyunjin's voice.

Hyunjin stood up and untied the chain on Jisung's hnd. Then he picked Jisung up from the water.

"What? That stupid dad of yours is finally willing to let me out?" Jisung asked.

"I'm not letting you go."

'I didn't wanna go anyways' Jisung thought.

"I didn't expect you to be the Master of Devil Religion."

"Well expect the unexpected." Jisung laughed and picked a strand of Hyunjin's hair, "You're so cute."

Hyunjin's ears turned red.

"Why did you hide that you are from Devil Religion?"

"Would I have returned alive if I told you I was from the Devil Religion?" Jisung asked. "Aren't you the young master of Righteous Path, who hates evil." Jisung was ridiculing him.

Hyunjin wanted to reply something bur he knew what Jisung told was correct. If he knew Jisung was from Devil Religion that day, he would've not saved him. 

Hyunjin carried Jisung back to his own yard. Jisung looked around. it was not too luxurious as his own yard.

"Young master," a female servant said.

"Bring some hot water to my room."

"Why are you pretending to be nice to me?" Hyunjin just smiled. Jisung looked around the room and saw a painting of cherry blossom. When he looked at it, Jeongin came to his mind.

"Your painting is not bad," Jisung said. Hyunjin's eyes revealed a hint of smile.

"You like cherry blossoms too?" 

"That is cherry blossom? It reminded me of my mat in my room." Hyunjin wanted to slap him.

"Go bathe," Hyunjin said.

\--------

Master Hwang originally wanted to cripple Jisung's martial arts. After Hyunjin got to know of this he knelt infront of Master Hwang's door for two days straight. Even though he was beaten with wood, he still knelt at the door with broken body and bones. In the end Master Hwang didn't have any choice but to hand Jisung to Hyunjin. As long as Jisung doesn't run away that is fine.

"Young master, you are injured, why did you carry that man? Even the creatures in the prison won't do any harm to him." The maid asked.

"He has grown in luxury, I don't think he has gone through any hardships like that."

"Hurry up and just apply the medicine," The maid wanted to say something but stopped after Hyunjin said that.

\--------  
Hyunjin came into the room with a bowl. Hyunjin looked at Jisung's untied hair. His aura was too strong, even if he wore white clothes, it would still not be able to suppress the demonic aura.

"What is this?" Jisung asked.

"Im afraid you have suffered internal injuries, so have some medicine."

"No need," Jisung said.

"Are you afraid of drinking medicine?" Hyunjin smirked.

"I don't need the medicine," Jisung said.

"If you drink this medicine I will give you the cure for the Week Flower poison," Hyunjin said.

"You..!" Jisung took the bowl. He hesitated for a moment then he held his breath and drank the medicine. It was really bitter. Just as he put his bowl down, something was shoved into Jisung's mouth.

"Candied fruit," Hyunjin said.

Jisung bit into it.

Hyunjin paused, retracted his hands and looked at Jisung puffy cheeks.

Jisung chewed on the candied fruit. halfway through, he suddenly felt weak all over. He held a wooden table for support.

"You!" Jisung grabbed Hyunjin's collar.

"I just sealed your Martial arts. You will feel really weak now but you will be alright in 6 hours." Hyunjin said.

"A famous upright faction still uses this method?" This sentence might've offended others but not Hyunjin.

Hyunjin lifted Jisung and put him on the bed. He carefully took his shoes and pulled the quilt over him.

"You can rest here for a while. The doctor will come later. You can tell the maid what you want to eat and she will make it for you."

Only after the doctor checked him, he fell asleep.

By the time he woke up it was already afternoon. His body was empty and he couldn't feel any energy.

"Fuck Hyunjin."

There was a soft click from the door.

"Has master woken up? Do you want food?"

"Come in. Hyunjin said I can eat anything, right?" The maid nodded.

"Then take note. It's best if you can write it down."

The paper the maid took out was filled with food items. Jisung smiled at her innocently.

\--------

When Hyunjin returned he saw the maid outside his room. When the maid saw him, she walked towards him.

"What is it?"

"Young master, the master of Devil Religion made people cook a lot of luxurious food."

"No worries, I'm afraid he has never suffered when it came to food even." Hyunjin laughed.

"But he only tasted each one, and the rest he poured out and fed the dogs."

Hyunjin saw a lot of street beggars today and felt that Jisung's behaviour was inappropriate.

"You go rest first."

"Yes."

\--------

Hyunjin pushed open the door and entered. Jisung was laying on the bed reading a book with crossed legs. He was only wearing inner robes which were not tied properly. Hyunjin hesitated for a moment and stepped in closing the door behind him. He walked over to Jisung and tied his robe properly.

"Why do you need to eat so much today?" Jisung raised his head to look at Hyunjin.

"Didn't you say that I can tell her to cook whatever I want to eat?"

"That's not what I meant, it's just that you only eat one mouthful of each dish. Do you know how many people starve to death?"

"I don't know. What does the lives of others have to do with me?"

"Tomorrow you have to memorise this whole book."

"Are you crazy?" 

"If you do I will give you the cure for The Week Flower poison."

Jisung was speechless. He stayed up all night memorising the book. 

\--------

Next day Hyunjin questioned Jisung from the book. Jisung got all of them right.

"Bring the antidote now." Jisung said.

"Not yet," Hyunjin said.

"If I am not right, you lost on purpose that day, right?" Jisung was exposed.

"Yeah so? Didn't you poison Changbin because you knew someone would come?"

Hyunjin didn't reply. He didn't actually think someone would come here for the cure because they were from Devil Religion. Even if others came, he didn't think Jisung himself would come. It was a pleasant surprise.

Jisung went back to the room. From then room came a small of rose which he recognised was Minho's. 

"Come out." Jisung ordered. "Why are you here?"

"To make a deal," Minho said.

"What's the deal?" Jisung asked

Minho walked infront of Jisung.

"I'll help you steal the cure if you accompany me for a night," Minho said. Minho thought Jisung would not agree to this.

"Really?" Jisung asked.

"Obviously."

"Then deal." Minho was surprised with Jisung's answer. "I don't have much time. I need the cure really fast."

"I will get it tomorrow night," Minho said.

"I hope for a pleasant cooperation."

"Do you want to complete the payement first," Minho winked.

"First cure."

"Your wish." Minho said.

\--------

The next day Hyunjin took Jisung to a restaurant to eat and get drunk.

"Jisung, you do have a good heart. If you didn't, you wouldn't have risked your life getting a cure for you member. Why must everyone hate you and why you have to hate everyone? You can just coexist with us." Hyunjin said.

"So what if everyone hates me? If I had been kinder, I would have been killed by you guys. Changbin grew up with me, protecting me and being loyal to me. Can you do that? If not, then what right do you have to ask me to coexist with you guys and do good deed?"

"Jisung.."

"Do you really think, you can change me in few days?" the meal was really unpleasant. Jisung could tell that Hyunjin wanted to lead him onto the right path, but he will not change.

Hyunjin felt really depressed and drank a cup of rice wine. Jisung looked at the wine and remembered Hyunjin was never allowed to drink. 

"Let's go" Jisung said. Jisung supported Hyunjin. There was carriage waiting for them outside. Jisung was immediately pushed against the carriage.

Jisung widened his eyes when he felt something soft agaist his lips. Hyunjin was kissing him! 

Hyunjin bit down on the lower half of Jisung's lips hard, and his hands tried to untie Jisung's robe.

"Hyunjin, get lost!" Jisung yelled. He bit hard on Hyunjins lips. Hyunjin finally came to sense and fell asleep. Jisung threw Hyunjin into the carriage and got in.

On a nearby rooftop, a pair of eyes were filled with hatred while witnessing the scene.

Jeongin's eyes turned red.

"Before your Master was locked up in water prison for days, and the wounds haven't been treated well. When he came out of the prison he was drugged and his martial art skills were sealed, and now he suffers such a humiliation."

Jeongin slapped the hands away. "Stop acting, you are not a good person either."

"Sigh," Minho sighed. "Don't say that, after all we are in the same team now."

"Tell me what you want? And I won't team up with a trash like you."

"Tonight Master Hwang will be medicating and will die?"

"You want to kill him?" Jeongin thought for a moment.

"He was the one who killed your Master's mom. At that time Old Master was also ambushed and died on his. Your master probably wanted to kill Master Hwang a long time ago. He is supposed to be the leader of the Righteous Path, yet he does thing like this. He would've even killed Master if it wasn't for his pride. Why do we have to pity him?" Minho exclamied.

"You're right." Jeongin's eyes lit up. 

\--------

Tonight, Jisung can steal the cure. Jisung stood up and went to the door and opened it. He was shocked when he opened the door. Hyunjin was standing outside the door.

'Why is Hyunjin here?' Jisung thought.

"Who are you waiting for?" Hyunjin's voice was cold.

"I-" Hyunjin suddenly grabbed Jisung's neck and smashed him onto a wooden shelf. The stuff on the shelf splattered on the ground. Hyunjin looked like a ghost.

"Jisung, I've treated you well, is this how you repay me? Your goal is not the cure, you are doing this for my father's life!"

"You're crazy, let go..." Jisung was choked, almost unable to breathe. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't get away.

"I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have let you out of the prison." Hyunjin leaned over and said in a low voice with hatred.

Jisung realised what is happening. He told Minho to get the cure. Could it be that he killed Master Hwang?

'No there is no way, how could that guy beat Master Hwang?' Jisung thought.

Hyunjin squished his throat even more. 

"Jisung, you really have no heart."

Jisung was pushed onto the bed and was forced into. Jisung saw Hyunjin's face with full of hatred forcing into him, repeated telling him to beg for forgiveness. He heard his own sobs, telling Hyunjin to stop. But Hyunjin didn't care, he just repeatedly told him to admit his mistakes. 

How can he admit when, he didn't do anything. Jisung bit his lips from the beginning to the end. He did not say a single word. In the end, he couldn't take it and fainted. It was too painful. Even after he fainted Hyunjin continued. 

Once Hyunjin finished, he stared at Jisung's unconsious face for a while. Then he got off the bed and got dressed. His body was trembling a little. He looked back at unconsious Jisung and frowned. Finally he left.

\--------

Jeongin made his way to the Devil Religion with the cure. His body was covered with bruises.

"Who are you?" A member of Devil Religion asked him. He showed his jade pendant.

"Sir, please follow me." They went inside and to the room where Changbin was.

"Give this to him," Jeongin said to the member.

"What is this?"

"The cure."

"The cure?!"

"Yeah, what's so strange about it?"

"What about Master?

The plan on killing Master Hwang was supposed to be quick and quiet. However, it was really loud which made Hyunjin join the fight too. But in the end they managed to kill Master Hwang and steal the cure. They didn't have the time to go to Jisung's room.

\--------

Jisung forced himself to open his eyes and let out a long breath. Jisung was tied up with a rope and his hair was messy. He was sitting on the ground. He was really tired, uncomfortable and in pain. His lower half hurt so bad that he almost passed out again. Voices were surrounding him. Jisung silently leaned again a pillar beside him. He was only wearing a inner robe in this ice-cold weather.

"I told you all that this devil was going to harm people. No one believed me, now Master Hwang is dead, are you guys happy?"

"This devil should not survive to begin with. He has commited so many sins. We have to kill him to avenge our Master Hwang."

"Yes, kill him!" a lot of people chanted.

Hyunjin kneeled in the middle. A white cloth was tied to his forehead, and he was wearing white clothes with no design. His face was really pale and his eyes colourless. When the news od the funeral got out, many factions sent people to offer condolence.

"Alright." The entire hall fell silent after hearing this. Hyunjin stood up.

"I, thank everyone for coming. My father met with a misfortune. As for the Master of Devil Religion, although he didn't commit the crime personally, he will be punished. Even if he died, it would not quell my hatred. Therefore, I hope everyone could hand him to me so I can take revenge for killing my father."

"Alright, since you said so, I have no objection."

Jisung half opened his eyes. looking at all the people.

"This is the last time I am asking you, were you the one who ordered it?" Hyunjin asked. Jisung wanted to laugh and Hyunjin's expression.

"So what if it was me? When he killed my mom that day, did he think of this day?" He looked at the coffin. Jisung was slapped by Hyunjin. All of a sudden, his mind became confused and his ears started to ring.

"Let him kneel infront of my father's soul for a day," Hyunjin said.

"No one can make me kneel, especially you filthy people who talk about justice and morality, when you don't even do the right things." Jisung spat on the ground.

"Jisung!" Hyunjin grabbed Jisung's collar and dragged him to the coffin. "Kneel!"

Jisung endured the pain on his body.

"Are you going to kneel or not?"

"No."

Hyunjin took a wooden stick and struck Jisung until the stick broke. Jisung groaned in pain.

"Kneel or not?"

"No."

He took another stick and struck him until it broke.

"Kneel or not?"

"No."

Another stick.

"Kneel or not?"

"I won't kneel."

In the end Hyunjin was completely numb. He couldn't remeber how many stick he used. His heart felt like it was stabbed.

"Kneel or not?"

Jisung couldn't even speak. His face turned pale.

"Are you going to kneel?" Hyunjin seemed to be worried.

"No.." Jisung managed to say. 

In fact, at that moment, Hyunjin had already forgotten about the hatred for killing his father. he only thought about how easily Jisung could make him angry. Therefore, when he swung the stick, the hatred in his heart was no longer there.

'Why do you have to disobey me? I treat you so well that I want to give you my heart. How can you treat me like this?' Hyunjin thought.

A sharp noice came from the floor. Jisung has fainted. 

The stick Hyunjin was holding fell to the ground. He wanted to go over and pick him up when someone spoke from the crowd.

"Well done!"

"This will definitely hurt his pride."

"Men lock him up," Hyunjin said coldly.

\--------

Someone poured cold water on Jisung and woke him up. Jisung looked up to see some member's of the Righteous Path members.

"This devil dares to kill our Master Hwang. We will avenge for him for sure."

"Of course we, devils are vicious." Jisung said.

"You will suffer today." one of the men said and took out a whip. 

\--------

Hyunjin was walking towards the dungeon, where Jisung was kept. The dungeon was cold and damp but it was better that the prisons.

A muffled voice interrupted his thoughts. He walked inside quickly.

"What are you doing?!"

"Young master..."

"Jisung?" Hyunjin looked at Jisung, who was badly hurt.

"Jisung!"

"Young master, we.."

"Who permitted you to punish him! Where did you get the guts from!"

The group of men immediately kneeled in panic.

"We only wished to avenge our old Master."

"Call the doctor," Hyunjin kicked the man.

\--------

Changbin was fine the day after he got the cure. He learned what happened these days.

"Forced into the Righteous Path building? Don't you know how to save him?"

"The master is fine for now. He went to get the cure, that's why he was forced."

"A cure for what?"

"The cure for the Week Flower poison."

Changbin was feeling guilty but some part of his heart was happy.

'Master really cares for me,' Changbin thought.

"Where's Jeogin?"

"Jeongin went to the building to save master but he returned with bruises, so he is healing."

"Take me to him."

Changbin went into Jeongin's room. Jeongin was sleeping.

"Jeongin, wake up, Jeongin."

"Master," Jeongin woke up slowly.

"What happened to master?"

"Is it cured?"

"Yes." Changbin responded. "What happened?"

"I killed Master Hwang, master is still at the Righteous Path building. Hyunjin will definitely not let master off, quickly send people there."

"You killed Master Hwang?!"

"I was just lucky."

"Master is still in their hands and you dare to kill Master Hwang! Are you crazy?!" Changbin was surprised that Jeongin successfully killed Master Hwang and he was even more surprised at Jeongin's stupitidy.

"There's no point saying that now. Hurry up and send someone to rescue our Master." Jeongin's eyes were filled with hatred. "Even if I have to flatten the Righteous Path building, I have to bring the Master out in one piece!"

\--------

Jisung had a high fever and had many injuries on his body. He was still unconscious.

"How is he?" Hyunjin looked really anxious even though he was the one who caused most of the injuries.

"I gave him all the medicine I could use, and the rest depeds on his luck. Even is he managed to survive, his leg would still be crippled. It's just the master of Devil Religion grew up in a different   
environment from normal people so many medicines don't work on him. It would still be better to ask a doctor from Devil Religion."

"Is there no other way?" 

The doctor was silent for a moment. "No."

"You can leave first." 

The doctor packed his stuff and left. Hyunjin stayed in the room looking at Jisung. Jisung's face was pale and his lips which were bright red were now colourless. Hyunjin felt like his heart was stabbed.  
"Young master! Bad news, bad news!" someone came running.

"The funeral room is on fire." Hyunjin remembered his mother went there.

"Where is my mother?"

"I don't know.."

Hyunjin instantly rushed over. All the members of the Righteous Path were holding water to extinguish the fire, but the fire was really extreme.

"Mother!" Hyunjin grabbed a person and asked, "Where's my mother?"

"I don't know, young master."

"Go see if there is anyone in my mother's room. Go quickly."

"Yes."

Hyunjin stared at the fire. Just as he was about to charge in, he was stopped by one of the member.

"Young Master, you can't do that. You will definitely die, if you do it."

"Who did this?"

"It's the Devil Religion." Someone screamed.

Hyunjin turned around to see few men in black with Jisung in the arms of the man the middle.

Jisung seemed to have gained some of his conciousness and whispered into the man's ear.

"Hyunjin, you will pay for bullying my Master sooner or later," Another man yelled with anger in his eyes.

Few corpses were lying in the ground. They were really dismembered but still Hyunjin recognised them. They were the ones who beat up Jisung in the dungeon.

"Jisung, you are going too far!" Hyunjin yelled. The fire behind him got even bigger.

Jeongin looked at Hyunjin trying to suppress the urge to kill him. "Let's go. We have to take our Master safely before they close the city gate."

"If it wasn't for master's order to not touch the main building, I would have definitely broken it into peaces."

"Give my parents back to me!" Hyunjin pulled out his sword, when he the men in black were about to leave.

"Take Master and leave!" Jeongin handed Jisung to Changbin.

The Righteous Path members reacted fast and started to fight with the Devil Religion members. Jeongin and Hyunjin started to fight. Changbin had to put Jisung on the ground behind him to fight the member of the Righteous Path.

"Don't fight with him, Jeongin." Jisung was in Changbin's arms looking at Jeongin.

When Hyunjin heard him speak, the anger in his heart rose even more. He kicked Jeongin away and rushed towards Jisung.

Jeongin clutched his chest, he raised his head and looked like he was about to break out in cold sweat. He shouted, "Master, get out of the way!"

As soon as Changbin killed one of the member from the Righteous Path, he turned around and saw Hyunjin. Without thinking too much, he shouted, "Master!"

Blood splattered everywhere.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
Jisung was in the embrace of Changbin, staring blankly at the sword tip that was just a foot away from him. It was dyed red. The warm blood splashed onto Jisung's face, making everything seem so unreal.

At the moment, Changbin turned around and took the hit for Jisung.

"Changbin!" Jeongin raised his sword and attacked Hyunjin. Hyunjin reflexively blocked the attack. Jeongin used all his strength push Hyunjin away.

"Changbin..no.. no." Jisung said in low voice.

Changbin knelt infront of Jisung. Jisung looked at his wound and was at lost what to do.

"Master.." Changbin forced a smile and continued,"I..I've always felt very sad. I can't compare to Jeongin. Ever since I was young, I've always been unable to protect you."

"No..." Jisung's eyes started to tear up. He stared at Changbin with wide eyes, "No."

He reached out his hand to cover Changbin's wound, but more blood flowed out.

"What do we do? What do we do? Is there anyone who can save him? Jeongin, please, SAVE HIM!"

"Master, don't cry.." Changbin's gaze slowly became emptier. He remebered the first time his father led him to the front of the Old Master. His father taught him, "This is the Master, and this is the Young master. We have to follow Young Master well in the future and protect him with our lives. Understand?"

Changbin stared at the kind infront of him. At that time, Jisung was as delicate as a porcelain doll. The words 'Follow the Young Master well, use your life to protect him' was deeply engraved into his heart.

"I...protected you," with that Changbin closed his eyes.

"Come quickly, it's people from the Devil Religion! Don't let any of them get away!" Suddenly, many people rushed in. Jeongin looked at lifeless Changbin and pulled Jisung up.

"Quick, let's go. It's too late if we don't leave now."

"Changbin!" Jisung shouted. Jisung spat mouthful of blood and lost consciousness.

Jeongin hugged Jisung and shouted, "Let's go! Hurry up and leave!"

Everyone from the Devil Religion disappeared into the night.

Hyunjin stood blankly on the spot, as if he was a wooden puppet without any feelings.

He did not know where he was, nor did he know what to do. Jisung left, as if taking away the light of his world, until a voice was heard.

"Young master! We found Madam!"

"What?"

Hyunjin turned around and saw his mother being supported over.

"Mother!" He rushed in front of her and asked, "Mother, are you alright?"

"It's fine." She coughed two times. Hyunjin hugged her while sobbing.

"It's good that mother is fine."

Someone came over with some Devil Religion members. Hyunjin didn't want to care about Devil Religion right now.

"Mother, it's getting late. Let's go take a rest first." He helped his mother get into her room.

"Hyunjin, wait a moment," She closed the door.

"Mother, what's wrong?"

"You.. send someone to properly place the body on protector Seo inside the Devil Religion."

"Mother, what is the meaning of this?"

"Sit first." Hyunjin sat down.

Madam Hwang continued, "There were many people outside so it was inconvinient to say it there. When I was mourning in the funeral room Jisung and others came in. When others were about to burn down the room, Jisung told someone to knock me out and send me somewhere else before burning down the room. If the Master of the Devil Religion, was actually really bad, he would've just burned it down with me inside it. When i woke up again I was in the courtyard."

"Hyunjin, what happened to you? Why do you look so awful?"

"I'm fine...I'm fine." Hyunjin took a step back, "Mom, I'm a bit tired, so i'll go back and rest. You should go to bed earlier." After saying that, he almost ran out the door in a panic.

Hyunjin walked to his yard, where Jisung was these few days. He thought of Jisung's scream when he did it with him forcefully. Hyunjin was kneeling on the ground with a defeated look.

"Jisung." He whispered.

It was cold and cheerless in the Devil Religion. The doctor eas surrounding Jisung and giving medicine, while Jeongin stood at the side, not daring to leave for a second.

The doctor sighed while straightening his back.

"How is my Master?"

"Master's martial art foundation is good, his recovery is fast, and it's not a big deal. However, both of Master's legs have been broken. His left leg will recover without any problem but his right leg is hard to recover." Jeongin lowered his head when he heard this.

"I understand, sorry to trouble you," Jeongin said.

"I have also watched Master grow up. He is usually a little mischievous, but his personality is not bad. I really thought nothing would happen to him because his martial arts is really good."

Jeongin thought of the moment, where Jisung ordered him to knock out Madam Hwang and the moment where Hyunjin stabbed Changbin. 

"Protector, don't be sad. Now that Protector Seo is gone and Master is like this, you will have to take care of the Devil Religion."

Jeongin walked over to where Jisung was laying and caressed Jisung's cold face. He then turned around. People around him can feel the murderous aura surrounding him.

"Those upright factions will probably join each other and attack the Devil Religion very soon. Order every member of the Devil Religion to be on their guard, no one is allowed to enter the Devil Religion without my permission."

"Yes, sire!"

\--------

Jisung woke up the next day. The moment he opened his eyes, he heard a maid beside his bed shout in surprise.

"The Master is awake!" The maid ran out in excitement.

Jisung sat in his bed and thought about Changbin's bed. He didn't want Changbin to die. He remembered his promise when he started the world, how he would not let Changbin die. But in the end, he couldn't protect Changbin.

In the original novel, it was Jisung who was stabbed in the heart by Hyunjin but now it was Changbin. Tears were forming in Jisung's eyes.

"Master!" Jeongin rushed in. He smiled when he saw Jisung awake.

"You're awake. Do you feel pain anywhere?" Jisung shook his head. Jisung just stared out of the window. Jeongin saw the tears forming in Jisung's eyes.

"Master, I'm here."

"Oh Jeongin, I was going to save him, did you know? I was trying to save him?" One tear crept from his right eye. Jeongin hugged him tightly.

"I know, I know," Jeongin hugged him even tighter.

"I only have you know, only you, Jeongin."

"I will never leave Master," Jeongin comforted Jisung.

Jisung stared into Jeongin's eye. For once he felt like he could trust, what Jeongin said.

"Remember what you said, Jeongin." Jeongin couldn't bear to see Jisung sad anymore. He grabbed Jisung's neck and kissed him fiercely. He didn't use much force because he was worried he would hurt Jisung.

\--------

The next day, Jisung saw a carrier pigeon in the yard. The first thing he saw in the letter was the signature 'Hwang Hyunjin'. Just reading those two words, Jisung wanted to rip the paper apart.

'At noon tomorrow, we will meet at the small city in the South. I've brought Changbin's body. I will be the only one there, I'll be waiting.

Hwang Hyunjin'

Jisung showed the letter to Jeongin. Jeongin directly threw the letter away.

"You can't go!"

"I didn't protect Changbin well. I at least want him to die in peace in his home."

"This must be a trick from them. They all are working together to kill you. You can't go!"

"South city is under the Devil Religion. it will be fine. At most, I'll just bring more people with me. If I don't bring Changbin's body back, I won't rest well for the rest of my life." Jisung looked deeply at Jeongin.

"Then you will take me with you."

"Alright."

\--------

Hyunjin was waiting in a forest with a wooden coffin behind him. Suddenly his eyes lit up when he heard noises. There was a red carrier coming towards him. Four people were carrying it. 

Hyunjin clenched his hands when he saw the curtains of the carrier were tightly shut.

"What do you want?" Hyunjin looked up at the person who spoke this. Hyunjin could feel that the person had some Righteous aura around him.

"I'm here to bed for forgiveness. I was in a hurry that night. My mother is fine.. Please forgive me, Jisung." Hyunjin looked at the carrier.

"Forgive you?" Curtains were suddenly opened. Jisung looked at Hyunjin with a cold gaze. 

"You really are here with a plan. Don't even mention an apology. In my opinion, even the life of the entire Righteous Path Clan is not worth a single strand of my hair." Jisung said.

"You are here for your morals, huh?"

"No! I am here to see you. Your injurie-"

"Enough! You came into my Devil Religion alone, did you think I won't kill you?" Jisung asked.

"Will you?" Jisung didn't say anything an just used his red threads to take a sword. He aimed towards Hyunjin. Hyunjin didn't seem to dodge. The sound of knife piercing through the skin could be hurt.  
"I will." Jisung pulled the sword out and threw it to Jeongin.

'It hurts' Hyunjin thought. Hyunjin thought Jisung stabbed him in his heart but the sword was an inch to the right.

"If killing you would bring Changbin back to life, I will not hesitate in the slightest. Since you were kind to me in that past, I will let you go now. However, if we meet again I will not hesitate to take your life."

"Jeongin, get someone to carry the coffin. Let's go."

\--------

Hyunjin put down his brush and opened the window staring into the darkness. He saw something move in the darkness. It was unknown what it was.

"Is young master not sleeping yet? Are you looking at the scenery or thinking about someone?"

Hyunjin looked to the side and saw a man. "Who are you?" The man just smiled at him.

"Aren't you the rapist Minho?" Hyunjin couldn't care less. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to not do that, so don't worry, Young master."

Hyunjin has been feeling really lonely after Jisung left. Even thought there were many people around him, he could get rid of his loneliness.

"Then what did you come here for?"

"I wanted to inform the Young master that Jisung and Jeongin are getting married tomorrow."

"What did you say?!" Hyunjin's hands trembled slightly.

"I said it clearly. Repeating it again won't change a thing."

"They are both men, how can they get married?" Hyunjin's heart was in a mess. 

"Devil Religion is different from your self-claimed righteous people. When they do something, they don't care about their reputation. They don't care about the rumours and live their life how they want to happily. No matter how our Devil Religion is, they are happy to see them get married."

Hyunjin though how he for Jisung to do good deeds. Now that he was thinking about it, he was restricting him. What Jisung wanted was to be carefree and at ease. Since Jisung was in Devil Religion, he was that kind of person, then if Hyunjin loved him, he should accept him as he is instead of trying to change him.

"You came here on purpose to tell me that Jisung is getting married right?"

"Speaking of which, I am ashamed. My martial arts is not good but my parkour is really good. Even if the Young master himself comes, he won't be able to catch me."

Hyunjin's expression changed.

"Now that time has passed, I have decided to join the Devil Religion. Next time we meet, we will be enemies."

'No.' Hyunjin has never thought about going against the Devil Religion.

"I know that you are different from those hypocrites, but as far as you know, has Jisung ever killed an innocent person? He is arrogant but he never bullies the weak."

"Then how did my father die? Do you dare to say it has nothing to do with him?" Minho smiled at him.

"You very well know it. You are just looking for a reason to continue hating him." Hyunjin was frozen on the spot.

"Take care young master." With the Minho left

\--------

Jisung was dressed in a casually and his hair was let loose. He sat on the highest seat and put one leg on the stool in front of him. Jeongin sat on a slightly shorter chair beside him. If no one knew beforehand, no one would've thought this was for tomorrow's wedding ceremony.

Minho walked to the front and stood in front of Jisung. Since he joined the Devil Religion, he had to follow their rules. 

"This subordinate pays his respect to the master." Jisung waved his hand.

"Where did you go?"

"I felt bored and went down the mountain for some drinks."

"Next time, don't go down the mountain carelessly. It is not safe for you to go alone."

"Yes, Master."

"Everyone can dismiss now," Jisung ordered. Jisung made his way to his wheelchair with the help of his maids. He then ordered them to go to the bath. Once he arrived he dismissed some of the maids and some stayed to attend him.

Jisung took off his clothes and went inside the bath barrel. The feeling of being surrounded by hot water made him relax. He closed his eyes lightly and fell asleep.

Jeongin was outside by the table. He was reading a book. He felt something was wrong while flipping the pages.

"Master?" No one answered him. Jeongin quickly put down his book and rushed inside to see Jisung sitting in the barrel. The water was no longer hot. Jisung's head was tilted to the side and his body was red. Jeongin's heart softened at the sight. He casually pulled out a cloth and bent down to pull Jisung out.

The moment Jisung was lifted out of the barrel, he opened his eyes slowly.

"Are you tired?" Jisung hummed.

Jeongin carried Jisung to his bed and put him on the bed. He stared at Jisung for a moment and got on top of him. He suddenly remembered Jisung's broken leg, his expression darkened. He stood up and pulled the quilt on top of Jisung. 

Jeongin stared at Jisung's rosy face. Tomorrow they are going to get married. He smiled in satisfaction.

A few days ago Jisung confessed to him out of nowhere. He was shocked.

"Master?"

"Jeongin, I love you." 

"I want to marry you," Jisung continued. Jeongin was shocked to say anything. He nodded in agreement. He knew no matter how bad Jisung's character was, he was still good to him. Even if Jeongin was kind to the entire world, they will let him down. No one will treat him like how Jisung treated him. No matter who he loses, he can't lose Jisung.

\--------

On the day of their wedding, everyone from the Devil Religion was wearing all red.

"A phoenix crown? Don't you know I am not a royalty?" Jeongin asked.

"No.. this servan-" She got interrupted by Jisung.

"I told her to prepare it. Since it's our wedding I wanted to dress you up." Jisung gave a big smile. Jeongin's heart skipped a beat. Jisung reached out his hand to hold Jeongin. They were really close. Jeongin stared at Jisung's lips. 

"Husband," Jisung said in a low voice. Jeongin almost lost control of himself.

"What did you call me?" 

"Husband, won't you wear this for me?" Jeongin pecked Jisung's lips quickly.

"Alright." Jeongin kissed Jisung passionately.

\--------

Beneath the Devil Religion mountain were villagers who opened the gates for the Devil Religion members to freeload for a meal. Even though Devil Religion sometimes stole from them, they had not done any harm to them. 

Many people squeezed into the courtyard to take a look at Master of Devil Religion's wedding. Among the people was Hyunjin, who was in disguise.

"Hey, why isn't the master here yet?" Hyunjin could hear people asking.

"Yeah, it's already the end of the day," another villager replied.

The villagers chattered a lot. Hyunjin stood at the side and listened.

"Why are you attending?" Hyunjin couldn't help but ask.

"What?"

"Were you guys forced to attend?"

"What the hell are you talking about." The villagers looked at him strangely and continued, "We are here to see the Master getting married."

"That's right, why else would be here," another villager said.

"But... that's master of the Devil Religion," Hyunjin said in confusion.

"What about it? The Devil Religion is at least better than those self-claimed righteous factions."

"Many people here come from the opposite mountain. We all went there for help because there was a drought in our city but they wanted to kick us out. We asked help from many factions but in the end, only Devil Religion didn't push us away. When we first came here, we all were nervous and scared. No one in the Devil Religion bothered us. Everyone was very kind to us and our children. They even gave us food." 

"Yes, the Devil Religion is much better than other factions," said another villager.

Hyunjin's heart felt like it was being squished. He knew what he did was wrong. He never learned anything about Jisung earlier. He was too late now. If he only had listened to Jisung's explanation before, things wouldn't be like this between both of them.

In the past few days, he has learned a lot about Jisung. Jisung never hid anything about his marriage and announced proudly to the whole country about his marriage to a man.

'Jeongin... '

Hyunjin tried his best to think of who Jeongin was. The last time he met him, Jeongin wanted to protect Jisung with his life or in the restaurant, he was completely protective over Jisung.

"They are coming." He heard someone say.

In front of the hall, Jeongin wore red wedding clothes with complicated embroidery at the cuffs and collars, a high hat and red silk in his hand. At the other end of the silk, there was a person wearing a red long robe, with a head covering on his head and big sleeves.

Hyunjin's heart suddenly hurt. He never thought Jisung would be this proud to marry a man. He was even willing to wear a face-covering for him. He watched as the two went in. Because there was a doorstep, Jeongin picked Jisung up. 

With a look, anyone could tell how miserable Hyunjin is at the moment.

"First bow to Heaven and Earth." Jeongin and Jisung turned around and bowed. Hyunjin was staring at them as if nothing else existed around him. Only him and Jisung.

"Second bow to the hall!" Hyunjin imagined him in the place on Jeongin.

"Husband and wife bow to each other!" Hyunjin and Jisung bowed to each other. 

Hyunjin was shaken to reality. 

'Maybe I shouldn't have come today.' Hyunjin thought. He saw Jisung and Jeongin pull the silk and get closer. They both were smiling.

"Master," Jeongin whispered. Jisung thought Jeongin wanted to say something and turned his head slightly. 

Something covered him and touched his lips through the covering. 

A round of applause and cheering suddenly came from the crowd. Everyone in the crowd was full of joy, except for one person, who was covered is sadness. He looked like an outsider among the crowd.  
Hyunjin glanced at Jisung longingly. Then he turned around and left. His lips curled downwards into a frown. He wasn't a good person.

He didn't feel like he would lose anything even if he gave up his faction and joined Devil Religion if he had Jisung. He looked back at the man with red clothes.

'How beautiful.'

\--------

Hyunjin sat on the main seat of the alliance head, beside him sat masters of other factions. 

His original plan was to attack Devil Religion three days from today but he suddenly said today.

"Since today was the wedding, most of the people will be drunk, so we have an advantage," Hyunjin said.

Under Hyunjin's instruction, everyone got ready and left towards Devil Religion.

Hyunjin couldn't accept this. No matter what, he would not let them spent the night together. He was already like fire and water with Jisung, so he might as well be worse. Even if Jisung hated him, he wouldn't be tossing and turning in the night thinking about how good Jeongin is treating Jisung.

Hyunjin is a selfish person.

\--------

The Devil Religion was still celebrating with each other, they didn't know anything about the oncoming battle.

Jisung was, after all, very arrogant. Since he wore a woman's wedding dress for Jeongin, he couldn't possibly just sit and wait for midnight.

"Many thanks to all of you for attending today. Jeongin will be my husband from now on."

"Yes!" Everyone went to eat after that.

"Let's go, what are you waiting for? I'm very hungry." Jisung said.

"Then let's go quickly. If we're late, those bastards will eat everything." Jeongin smiled.

Everyone chatted and laughed at the feast. It was very lively. 

Even though Jisung was full of alcohol, he still drank more. He was about to drink even more when his wrist was grabbed.

"Stop drinking, If you drink any more you will get really drunk," Jeongin said.

"Ok, I won't drink anymore." Jisung immediately put down his wine cup. Jeongin's heart softened while witnessing obedient Jisung.

"Do you have any unfulfilled desires?" Jisung asked.

"No more."

"Really? Like finding your parents?"

"No. I only wish to be with you for the rest of my life." Jisung couldn't help but feel moved.

"Report!" 

"Master, master, there is a large group of people rushing towards our Devil Religion. Please give an order fast!" Jeongin stood up.

"Do you know who it is?"

"Various factions including Righteous Path are here." Jeongin looked at Jisung.

"Find a few people to send the villagers to safety. As well as, send a signal to Devil Religion members outside to come back. It is time to avenge for Changbin." Jisung ordered. Even though Jeongin because the main protector right now, everyone still loved Changbin, a loyal protector who gave his life to protect Jisung.

"Reporting, they have entered the barrier."

The factions came.

"You look like a virtuous person." Jisung mocked Hyunjin.

"If anyone else is like them, they will end up like this," Hyunjin said coldly.

"Everyone came from afar, are you here to congratulate me?" 

"You devil, you are so wicked. Now you are openly married to a man. This is absurd!" Someone yelled.

"Why does it matter to you about who I am married to? What does it have to do with you?"

"Jisung we didn't make it difficult for you for these years. You still dared to kill Master Hwang. We will not tolerate you anymore!"

Jisung laughed. "Your lives are precious but my members' life is not? It's all about favouring others to get revenge. Why do you have to act like you are righteous, it makes me disgusted."

Hyunjin took a step forward. "Jisung, if you surrender, we can spare your Devil Religion."

"Let's see if you guys can destroy my Devil Religion." as soon as he said that a large amount of Devil Religion members emerged from behind him.

Jeongin stood in front of Jisung with a bow and arrows, aiming and firing at people. He then took his sword and fought with Hyunjin. Since the beginning of the war, they both wanted to attack each other.  
"Everyone stop!" Jisung shouted. Both sides stopped.

"Master, save me! Master!"

"Save us, save us!" These were none other than the villager, Jisung ordered to send to safety. They were tied up.

"Young master, I saw a group of people sneaking down from the back. I knew they were up to no good so I brought then with me."

"Very well! We can't let any Devil Religion members escape." The man beside Hyunjin said.

"Those are villagers from beneath the mountain. They are don't have any Martial arts!" 

"We can't trust a devil like him." The man told Hyunjin.

"You know they are villagers!" Jisung yelled.

"You knew I was here."

"So what?"

"You knew I was coming."

"You guys boast about being righteous but that is really an act. You are disgusting things with your mouth full of righteous." Jeongin said.

"Then why are they here? Why go down the mountain now and even Devil Religion members personally escorted them." Hyunjin was surprised at the words which left his mouth.

"HWANG HYUNJIN!" Jisung yelled. "Whatever, I trusted the wrong person." Jisung said.

Hyunjin's heart broke into a million pieces when he heard this. He would rather if Jisung never trusted him to begin with.

"What you guys want?" Jisung asked.

"As long as you cripple your martial arts and surrender, I will let these people go." The man said.

"Impossible." Before Jisung could say something, Jeongin said.

"We are the Devil Religion who commits a lot of evil deeds, so why would we offer our Master for them?" Jeongin asked. This single question made many people speechless.  
"That's better," Hyunjin said.

"Today everyone is going to settle their accounts. No one is allowed to interfere in this. Losing he means that you are lacking in strength." Hyunjin pointed Jeongin. "Come."

They both started to fight. Few wounds appeared on Jeongin's clothes.

"Does Young master not like my clothes? Today you guys came without us causing any troubles and chose my marriage day to fight." Jeongin said.

Hyunjin used his strength to stab Jeongin. Jeongin was unable to dodge and was cut open.

"You like Jisung, don't you?" Hyunjin froze.

"If those people in your side knew that you liked Jisung, what do you think they would think?"

"You really like Jisung? You both are from two different worlds, what can you do for him? You can only ruin our marriage, can't you? Can you even protect him? You can't even stand beside him in broad daylight."

"You shut up!"

Jisung got a bad feeling about those two who were talking right now. In the end he couldn't bear it but go over.

"Master where are you going?"

"To Jeongin."

"Master, your legs are broken, I will help you."

Back to Jeongin and Hyunjin.

"That's because he killed my father!" 

Jeongin's expression froze. "Hah! Kill you father? Him? He was imprisoned and didn't even have martial arts. How did he kill your father?"

"He was the one who ordered it! He only lost one leg, but my dad lost his life!"

Jeongin was stunned. So he thought Jisung murdered his father and broke his legs. Jeongin started to laugh.

"I was the one who killed your father. It had nothing to do with Jisung."

This was the only reason, Hyunjin continued to hate Jisung for. Now that he is told Jisung is innocent what is he supposed to do.

"Impossible!"

"I had to kill your father to get the antidote. You wrongly accused Jisung and even broke his legs. And you don't have any guilt towards him!"

"You're lying!"

"If you think carefully, Jisung had no way to order anyone or kill Master Hwang."

"Shut up! I'll kill you!" Jeongin took this chance to attack Hyunjin but he was fast. he used his full strength to stab Jeongin's shoulders. He pulled his sword out and walked toward Jeongin.

Hyunjin stared at Jeongin. It was all because of this person. If he didn't exist the relationship between Jisung and Hyunjin, wouldn't have ended like this. He was the one who separated them.  
Hyunjin picked up with a wicked smile on his face. "Go to hell!"

The sound of a sword slicing through muscle could be heard. Blood splattered everywhere.

"Jisung!" Jeongin looked at the red clothes in front of him and screamed. Hyunjins pupils strung. Jisung's face was facing him. Hyunjin thought that there was someone Jisung was willing to protect with his life.

Hyunjin watched Jisung close his eyes slowly.

"Jisung! Jisung!" Jeongin yelled. "It's ok, everything is going to be ok. Today we got married we haven't even spent the whole day together. Don't forget that!" Jeongin was trembling.   
Jisung smiled at him. 

"I didn't forget. Jeongin are you willing to be mine... forever." Jisung weakly said.

Jeongin nodded. Tears flowed from his eyes and fell onto Jisung's clothes. "I'm willing, I will always be by your side. I will never leave you. Can.. can you not leave me, Jisung?" 

Jisung couldn't say anything. He was in extreme pain. He turned to look at Hyunjin. He remembered how in the original novel they both worked together to kill Jisung but now they both look sad.  
Jisung used his last breath to say, "Don't... blame... me."

Hyunjin broke down crying like a child. No one there knew why he broke down crying. No one knew that the person Hyunjin loved the most had died under his own sword that day.   
"I didn't blame you." 

\--------

After Jisung's death, there was no joy in Jeongin's or Hyunjin's life. Jeongin became the new Master of the Devil Religion. Jisung was buried in his favourite flower garden, Jeongin would go there every day and sit there drinking and crying. "Jisung, why did you leave me?"


	5. 2nd

[Ding! Congratulation host! You have completed your task successfully! We will be going to the next world Immediately.]

It felt like most of his body was being held under icy water. The cold traversed his skin, soaking into his flesh and blood, and pierced his bones. It felt like his heart would stop beating in the next second because of this extreme cold.

Jisung's eyes shot open and he found himself lying on the cold floor; he was drenched.

He had no strength to utter complaints.

"Can I get the information please."

[ This world is not a novel. This was a real person's experience. In this world the marriage between same-sex are legal. You are in a body of a naive young master, named Jisung. His inheritance was snatched away by his relatives after the death of his parents. The last person he could rely on was Lee Minho who was a scumbag. However, Jisung was blinded by love to see it. Minho raised Jisung for five years just to make him a substitute for someone else. He learned about this on the day he was about to confess his love.

Minho knew Jisung wanted to take his parents' business back and also dreamed of releasing his full potential. However, Minho ordered Jisung to destroy his own reputation and his future to become a stepping for his unarchievable love, Lee Felix.

That day Jisung found out he was only a plaything for Minho. He had to agree to the deal and became a stepping stone for Felix who was a growing actor. In the end Jisung's reputation was ruined and he couldn't reclaim his parents' company.

Since you completed last mission, you will not have a task in this world. I want you to follow your heart.]

The description he heard made the sour taste of bile rise in his throat and made his eyes tear up. He didn't know why but his heart hurt when he heard the description. He will definitely not let him suffer like how he did in the original life.

The body's memory came into his mind. More tears came out of Jisung's eyes without Jisung noticing. He read the new message which had popped up in his phone.

Secretary Park: President Lee said that he wants you to act according to the script. Not one wordless.

Secretary Park actually was also one of Minho's many sexual partners.

As if in echo to the message, the computer on the desk pinged with a new email notification, right on the dot. Jisung walked over and opened the email; it was the script for 'Swapping Lives'.

This reality show titled 'Swapping Lives' was the crucial fuse which had lit tragedy in the life of the old Jisung. The point of the show was to put people from different professions and family backgrounds in each other's shoes and let them experience the other's lives.

And in Minho's words, this programme was the best stepping stone for Felix to change his previous public persona.

Felix had reached stardom as a child. He had top marks for his acting skills, his looks and his studies too, and he was known as "the nation's little brother". Felix needed to break out of that mould and change his public persona to that of a gentle heartthrob, so he needed someone to act in contrast to enhance his desired traits.

However, such a person was difficult to find. He needed someone with good family background, and that someone had to be pleasant to look at too. The person also had to act like one who was greedy. Who else was more perfect for this than the young man who had been groomed by Minho? So of course Minho wanted Jisung to go there.

Jisung read the script. The script was literally steps to becoming a greedy and useless person.

Ringing from the phone interrupted his train of thought.

It was that Secretary Park. He was probably calling because Jisung had not replied promptly.

"Did you hear President Lee's order?" Secretary Park spoke crudely like he felt it beneath him to call. His next words were full of threat.

"Don't forget that President Lee was the one who gave you everything you have now. If you don't do this well then forget about studying."

Secretary Park waited for the usual apology from Jisung after he spoke.

This secretary was not a good person and had no real ability. He was Minho's lackey and had only got his job by selling his body. Why was there a need for him to make things difficult for the old Jisung when he had no quarrel with him?

It all boiled down to his guilty conscience.

In the memories of the old Jisung, Secretary Park saw that he had been abandoned by Minho, and had taken the opportunity to spread rumours on the old Jisung's online school forums when he had gone to participate in the programme, saying he was a boy toy, and even posting intimate pictures of the old Jisung. The Jisung's fingers tightened subconsciously around the phone in his hand, perhaps affected by the emotions left by the old Jisung.

Secretary Park's act was the true beginning of old Jisung's downfall.

This was because he could still put his hopes into his studies even if the scum abandoned him. He had truly come to a dead end when his school had expelled him due to "misconduct", and he had lost his will to live on.

Trash. Useless. Ungrateful. He'd lost count of the number of abusive private messages he'd received via Twitter. After programme aired he got a lot of hate. What had happened in school had also become well-known.

There was no way for him to explain himself. All these accusations of non-existent wrongs he had committed cut at him like the sharpest blades, riddling his bleeding heart with cuts. He finally killed himself.

Jisung will make them pay for those.

Jisung turned on the speakerphone mode and scrolled through the pictures on his phone. As expected, he got to the picture of Secretary Park cheating with the hot young hunk after scrolling a few times. He considered it for a bit and soon concluded.

Besides, the new Jisung's goal was to make Minho pay and betray him. His first step can be this Secretary Park.

Jisung let out a soft laugh, "You always talk to me arrogantly, Secretary Park. I don't understand it. You and I, both sold our bodies. Why do you think you are better than me?"

"What?"

"I said, we are both selling our bodies, so why to act like you're better?" Jisung repeated

"Hey, tell me, how is Minho in bed? Do you feel good when he plays with you? Does he call you a slut? Does he shout out Felix's name when he's climaxing? Does he pull out heartlessly after he's done, then slap you viciously after getting out of bed?"

"You want to die, Jisung?"

"The one who's going to die is you, isn't it? Even if I am Minho's toy, you are not much higher than me. Don't you order me around when you have no right." He cut the call right after that.

"Swapping Lives" would have to be filmed out of Seoul. He had to make sure that nothing went wrong while he was away, especially when he just insulted Secretary Park.

So, a picture of Secretary Park and a popular young celebrity having an affair surfaced on the Twitter page of a certain verified weekly gossip magazine that day. The picture showed Secretary Park hanging onto the young celebrity's body in an unattractive position. This quickly became a hot topic. He was definitely done after this.

A chill struck Secretary Park's heart when he saw it. This scene was all too familiar to him. Wasn't it that day when Jisung had bumped into him when he was having a date with the popular celebrity? He'd never expected that Jisung would actually have evidence of that! And he used this sort of method too, just posting it up like that. Secretary Park grew paler with every gossip article he saw.

He had no time to bother with going to Jisung. He had to find some way to shut this down immediately before Minho finds out. But he couldn't get in touch with anyone.

The feeling of danger enveloped him, and Secretary Park stood rooted to the spot, feeling helpless. A message from Minho arrived quickly. Cold sweat drenched the clothes on his back.

Minho had sent someone to deliver the message. "Play well with them from now on."

Play well? With who? Colour drained from Secretary Park's face when he recalled what he knew of those people in that circle and their ways of playing. He was terrified.

Minho was in a rage. If he could lift Secretary Park up, he could tear him down too. What actually surprised him more was Jisung. Minho had played around with him for five years, so he knew that he had a temper. What he had not expected was that Jisung would actually dare to touch the people by his side.

"Do you want to give him a warning?" questioned Minho's loyal assistant.

"No need for that. He's just a toy. Get someone to watch him. Don't bother unless he strays from the script," said Minho. He then sent Jisung a text message himself. He sent one line: Act well or cease up like Secretary Park.

Jisung could see the warning and mockery in Minho's words right away.

He understood that though he had caused the downfall of Secretary Park and disgraced Minho, he was still a petty orphan who could do nothing to Minho. He was sure Minho will punish him severely if he didn't follow the script. If he followed the script he will end up being hated by everyone. This is going to be interesting. 

Old Jisung's memories rushed in again.

It was different from what Jisung had imagined. the old Jisung actually did have some skills. He had a pair of surprisingly brilliant, skilled hands. He could craft anything easily and effortlessly.

The old Jisung also had an online store. He was the owner of one of the popular online stores. It was his income that allowed him to support himself.

He could've made living off of this in his original life but his hands broke when he was bullied. Jisung's eyes turned bloody red. He didn't know why he reacted this way. It is as if he was the old Jisung.

Fortunately, He still had working hands.

Jisung thought about the show's conditions and how it was set up and had some ideas about what he could do.

With that thought in mind, he lay comfortably on the bed and got ready to go to sleep.

\--------

Time passed quickly and it was filming day.

Minho had taken care of everything. He required Jisung to play the part of a second-generation rich young master, so he had made sure that all aspects, big and small, met the concept.

Right now, people were waiting outside though Jisung had only just got out of bed. There were a butler and a driver, and even the suitable clothing had been prepared.

\--------

Jisung was the last to arrive at the filming site.

He greeted the director and walked straight to the van used for the filming. Felix had arrived and he had easily made friends with the others. Jisung's arrival affected an instant, subtle change in the friendly atmosphere.

Some people would become the centre of attention just by turning up, and it was obvious that Jisung was one of them. Right now, for example, he was in haute couture casual wear which complemented and enhanced his beautiful looks.

The young men in the van were charmed especially, Felix. The surprise was written all over his face at his first look at Jisung.

Felix felt like Jisung was his twin because the way walked and other habits were similar. The difference between them was that Felix gave off the impression of a warm person, while Jisung gave off an impression of arrogant.

As soon as Jisung got out of the van, Felix held out his hand first and said, "Hello, I'm Felix."

However, Jisung wrinkled his brow and didn't even spare him a glance. He turned his head and pointed to a seat as he ordered to his butler behind him. "Go in and clean it up."

'This guy is fucking arrogant!' people thought.

The young men understood why Jisung would look down on them, but Felix was the heir of the Seo family (A/N: I can't put Lee because Minho is also Lee.). Even if Felix was not willing to take over the family business and insisted on staying in the entertainment industry, he still had power. How dare Jisung give this attitude to Felix.

Just as these thoughts formed in the minds of the young men, one of them, a person who knew about some finer details, couldn't help sneering as he blew Jisung's cover. "A toy raised by Minho thinks he's a prince."

The young man who had spoken was named Kim Seungmin. His family was collaborating with Minho on something. Seungmin was also one of the princes of the entertainment circle, and he had agreed to be on the programme to accompany Felix. He hated Jisung.

The young men were only surprised, but Felix was hit hard by this. His first impression of Jisung was good.

However, once he heard that Jisung was another substitute Minho had groomed in his likeness, he was disappointed. He felt sick.

Knowledge of the cheap things Minho did was known in the entertainment circles of Seoul. Minho has groomed a whole bunch of playthings when his advances on Felix failed. There was no doubt that Jisung was one of his playthings.

The impression Felix had about Jisung worsened. He became cold towards Jisung.

Meanwhile, there was an explosion of comments coming from netizens watching the live broadcast.

"This newcomer is a bonehead! Does he have basic respect?"

"Pfft, so what if he's a rich kid when he acts like that. Even my 2-year-old niece knows to greet people."

Comments instantly flooded the bullet screen of the live broadcast, all complaining about Jisung. Every comment mocked his attitude.

"Swapping Lives" was being broadcast in two ways. One free, one paid. The free version was broadcast on TV after editing, and the paid version was streamed live on the internet with no cuts.

What the young men had said earlier had not all been broadcast because their voices had been low.

Jisung seemed to not care.

No one expected that Jisung would take up the entire backseat of the van for just himself. There were two girls in the group, and they got nauseous sometimes because the van was crowded and there was no air conditioning. Jisung was actually so horrible as to put his luggage on the seats because he didn't want them to get dirty, and he refused to change seats with others.

The viewers went wild in the comments.

"Nope, I can't stand it no more. No matter how arrogant a person is, he still has to have some basic empathy. Those two girls are suffering! Is he blind? Does he not see them?"

"It's the fourth season of 'Swapping Lives' and this Jisung guy is the most despicable and shameless one I've seen."

The viewers said everything negative they could think of.

Things got even worse when the group arrived at the filming location. It was a small county town.

It was interesting. Jisung and the others were given a period of three days to adapt before they entered the town. However, these three days were not easy. The participants were given ten yuan each, but these ten yuan was all the cash available for them to spend in the town for the next three days.

"This is no big deal! We can just have plain buns for our meals for the next three days." The young men, including Felix, felt like this was not a problem, and thought that this task was a little too simple.

They had already checked the prices in the town beforehand because they knew they were coming to film here for the programme. They could survive quite well on five yuan each too.

However, they actually had to pay for their lodging too! A room cost ten yuan per day, and water was free but they had to figure something out themselves for electricity.

They were dumbfounded. The production crew all withdrew and the participants were left to their own devices. This drove home the fact that this was not an act, and that they really would not receive any external help. If they could not get money, then they would have to live on the streets the next day, much less think about eating buns.

The young men panicked at this sudden development. Only Felix kept calm. 

"Don't panic. Let's pool our money and rent two rooms. One room for us guys, and one room for the girls. This means we'll only need 60 yuan for three days. As for the problem of getting fed, let's think about a solution when we've settled down. Let's see if we can find some job to do in the town. Even if we only earn two yuan a day each, we can still afford buns and pickled vegetables for our meals if we share our money."

"What a great idea!" The viewers praised the idea right away. However, they did not expect that Jisung would actually refuse to cooperate. To add insult to injury, Jisung looked at the others like they were idiots.

This was just unbearable. Conflict broke out. Seungmin took a step forward and grabbed Jisung violently by the collar.

"You wanna get beaten?!"

Seungmin could not stand it anymore.

He hated Jisung and felt that it was an insult to let a kept toy like him stand with them. 

Jisung, however, cared not. He scoffed, and his gaze went to a camera close by. "Just you try and touch me. I spend my own money, what does it have to do with you?" 

"This is a live stream! There are tons of people watching!" Seungmin said.

"So what? You know that this is a live broadcast, so you should be cooperating with me more. I'm going by a script here, okay? What if I say something I shouldn't because of pressure? If that happens, netizens all across the country will be able to see how this pitiful orphan got pushed into being a scapegoat for you noble young masters and ladies to get your 15 minutes of fame." Jisung whispered to Seungmin.

Everyone in the inner circles of Seoul knew that he had been taken in by Minho at the age of twelve, and had become a kept pet at fifteen. Minho went to visit him twice a week. As for the house Jisung lived in right now, it was in an area known for its villas. Who knew how much he had taken from Minho over the years. He might even have more liquid assets than these young masters from affluent families. And now he's acting like some innocent? What else could this be but an act?

Seungmin just glared hatefully at Jisung.

But Jisung was not going to shut up because of that.

Seungmin had not deliberately set out to bully the old Jisung but he had mocked the old Jisung often when he'd joined the group. Plus, Seungmin had known that the old Jisung was bound to follow a script, yet he had picked fights and stirred up trouble with the old Jisung.

So Jisung decided that he was going to make full use of the script to annoy Seungmin. He was going to enjoy bullying these guys and get lots of satisfaction in doing so.

At that thought, Jisung glanced meaningfully at Felix.

"Not happy about it, huh? You're also here to serve as a support role for Felix, so you should be cooperating with me. Stop trying to act like a good guy. You have to learn how to be bullied if you want a good reputation. Be more respectful to me, or our Uncle Lee won't let you off if you end up messing things up for Felix."

Seungmin's family was nothing compared to Minho after all.

"Don't get too arrogant, Jisung. You're just Minho's leftovers right now. When this programme ends-"

"So what? I can find sponsors again. Everyone in these circles knows me as a rent boy anyway. Would I need to worry about it when my price is on display for all to see? I heard that you have an elder brother who has a taste for this, and your father too..."

"Shut it!" Seungmin whisper yelled

Jisung put force into his hand and wrenched Seungmin's hand away, then casually threw him to the ground. then he went into the building with his luggage in hand.

"Are you okay?" The production crew asked. They were sent back when they noticed the atmosphere.

"It's fine. It was just a small conflict." Felix was the first to react, and he quickly helped Seungmin to his feet. He looked at Seungmin's wrist again and saw a clear circle of red. It was obvious that Jisung had used all his might when he had grabbed him earlier. 

In the comments, number of people were scolding Jisung. Even the netizens who didn't usually leave comments couldn't help expressing their anger.

"Argh, I'm gonna blow. Is this guy really here to film a show, or is he here to ask to die?!"

"Get lost, Jisung! Get lost from 'Swapping Lives'!"

The netizens' anger reached a new high. Jisung and Seungmin had spoken in low voices earlier and the netizens had not been able to hear them, but that did not stop them from forming a bias and concluding that Jisung had bullied Seungmin.

Those with quick fingers took screenshots and made them into mocking image, which were then posted on the internet to mock him further.

Jisung's public persona was fixed as the bad guy now.

But Jisung was most happy to hear of this situation. He couldn't wait for those haters to throw out worse insults.

Because the worse their insults were now, the greater the satisfaction he would get when he proved them

Felix and his group were in a difficulty.

They had no way of paying for three days of rent because Jisung had refused to cooperate. After some discussion, they decided to pay rent for two days, then think of what to do the next day.

That night was definitely the toughest night for the city-born people. Their muscles and backs hurt the next day.

They thought of Jisung in the other room and felt a measure of comfort. Jisung had spent all of his own money after all, and he would have to wander the streets tonight if he did not find some way to make money.

What they did not know was that he already had a solution.

July was one of the best time for willow trees to grow and flourish. Jisung's main idea centred on these willow trees. He borrowed a pair of scissors from the landlord and snipped off several branches from the willow trees in the yard. He filled about half of his basket with willow branches and walked straight off to the marketplace when he was done.

"Where's he going?" Seungmin had just got up, and he couldn't help asking about it when he saw Jisung leaving.

The rest of the group just stared at Jisung. They had bad impressions of Jisung after all, and were all hiding some thoughts of enjoying the misfortune of Jisung.

Only Felix had mixed feelings about this. He had a feeling that Jisung's actual personality was not what he saw. But he quickly put his feelings aside and called for the others to prepare to set out. It was not time to observe Jisung. They had no money left now, so they absolutely had to find work today or they would have to stay hungry for three days.

The others also understood the situation and listened to Felix's instructions. They packed up and followed Felix out the door.

\--------

Felix and his group were facing this precise awkward situation.

This group of young masters and ladies had never lacked money in their lives. They went around the village several times but were unable to find any work they could do.

Come to think of it, life in the small county town was slow, and opportunities and job positions were far less accessible than in a big city. And no one was willing to hire them.

They looked at these people and understood that they were not capable to work in a village.

The group thought they could find a job easily and earn a bit of money but that was not the case.

"That's life." The cruel reality Felix and his group faced made the live stream watchers sigh in sadness. Felix and his group circled the town once more.

They were not picky about the pay this time, they would accept it if it meant that they could fill their stomachs. However, their hopes were destroyed.

Time passed quickly, and it was noon when the sun was hottest. The heat turned their skin red.

"This remote town has no jobs available at all? Is the production crew screwing with us?!" Seungmin said in anger.

He felt like he was going mad. He had been walking about the whole morning with no break. It would have been fine if they had got something out of it, but the truth was that they didn't even have any money to buy food.

The others with him were much the same. They were not cursing on the street, but their energy had dropped to their lowest. They had started to doubt if they would be able to hang on these practise days.

"Let's calm down first and look for a place to rest and think of a solution for a while." Felix was the only one calm. Felix also knew that the three days would be difficult.

"Tsk. Looks like none of the participants in this season will be able to win the money again."

"I think this Felix kid is pretty good. He doesn't panic when things go wrong."

The comments on the live stream looked forward to how they would handle the situation.

Felix and his group were losing heart, and the netizens watching the live stream were sorry.

Just then, a comment suddenly asked curiously, "What's that Jisung doing right now?"

"You need to ask? He must be lazing around somewhere."

"Yeah! He's not with the main group, so I have to pay to watch him. I'm not going to care about that trash!"

The programme director had a good source for business. He had made it so that viewers had to pay to watch the live stream of the individual cameras of each participant.

The cameras of the main broadcast followed where there were the most participants.

Felix's individual camera had lots of fans paying.

Jisung's situation was the complete opposite. The first impression he had made on the viewers had turned them off, and no one was going to want to watch his individual live stream.

It was two in the afternoon in the blink of an eye. Felix's group had no income and were forced to return to their rent room to rest with empty stomachs.

Their situation was clear. Felix and his group were definitely going to fail their practise period.

The viewers couldn't help feeling a little sorry.

A comment on the bullet screen suddenly popped up. "Woah, woah, woah! Jisung got money!"

"What skills does Jisung have? Him? Earning money?" The comment saying Jisung got money was laughed at.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's really not. You can go see it, yourself," He wrote nothing more after that." That person was upset at people ridiculing them.

The viewers paid-up when they read the comment, and gained access to Jisung's live stream.

Jisung had really made money. He was making money comfortably.

The handsome man was sitting in a relatively peaceful corner, quietly twisting the branches in his hands. The messy branch was turned into a beautiful little flower basket quickly. This is how he earned money.

Quite a few of the viewers were entranced as they watched him. Jisung's good looks blessed their eyes.

"I know he has a shit personality but I have to say that Jisung is fucking handsome," a comment read.

Jisung opened up his little shop. Delicate flower baskets, 50 pence for the small ones and 1 pound for the big ones. A small crowd soon gathered.

"Small ones are for 50 pence and the big ones are for 1 pound" Jisung's hands were busy, and he just casually listed his prices. He sold all in two or three hours.

The bullet screen was exploding with comments.

"Dafuq? It looks like it's over 11 pounds."

"Look at him! He didn't cheat, right?"

And over at Jisung's side, the cameraman following him around also couldn't help but ask, "How much did you make?"

"19 pounds." Jisung told the cameraman.

Viewers, including the cameraman, were stunned. Those who had previously called Jisung lazy were stupefied.

19 pounds did not sound like a huge sum, but he did it in a village on his own. Furthermore, he had made it in a really short time.

The haters who had come to see Jisung make a fool of himself were embarrassed.

Jisung packed up his little stand and started on a lazy stroll. He looked for a restaurant which suited his tastes.

Jisung took a seat in a bigger restaurant. He pointed at the menu and ordered six dishes.

Would he be able to finish all of that? Many were curious about that.

However, what Jisung did next blew their minds.

All of the dishes he'd ordered were served, but he made no move to touch his chopsticks. Instead, he sat there with a look of disgust on his face. He did not even have the civility to invite the cameraman who had been following him around and filming him to eat.

The viewers started criticising him when they saw that.

"That's too much! Even if he is a rich young master and is used to having a table full of food, he can't do that!"

Jisung was actually doing this on purpose.

The old Jisung had followed the script and played the part of scum, and had been stabbed with criticism so bad he had ended his life. In this life, the new Jisung could start from the beginning again and help the old Jisung build the reputation he should have. He was going to clear the eyes of these people and show them what a real good guy was like.

Jisung's mood brightened at that thought, and the smile in the corners of his mouth became just a trace more genuine.

What the viewers found even surprising was that Jisung had asked for the dishes to be packed up, saying that they should not go to waste and that he would bring them back to feed the landlord's sheep.

The netizens watching all thought that Jisung had gone crazy.

The complimentary cup of sour plum drink the shop owner had given him was rejected too and sent straight to the cameraman.

"You call this a complimentary item? Ridiculous." Jisung said disgustingly.

His cameraman was stunned.

The cup of sour plum drink had been a perfect beverage for cooling down the body and quenching thirst.

Cameraman noticed Jisung's tightly pursed lips and red ears of after he had said all those rude words. It looked to him like Jisung was more like a person who was shy because he did not know how to interact with others rather than a person who was arrogant and unreasonable.

Jisung had also sneaked looks backwards to check if he had drunk the sour plum drink, and that had increased the suspicion that his thought was true.

As part of the production crew of the programme, he knew that Jisung had to follow a script, so all these rude things he'd witnessed him doing was because he had no other choice. Jisung could actually be kind under his mask.

The cameraman suddenly felt like the refreshing cup of sour plum drink in his hand had lost all flavour. The pain reached his heart when he looked up to see the young man before him.

\--------

Jisung and Felix and his group met in the doorway.

Unlike Jisung, Felix and his group had experienced hardship.

The five youngsters were starving after running about for five hours. They looked like puppies that had rolled in the mud.

'Did Jisung specially order the food packed for them?' The cameraman thought

The cameraman glanced at the packed food Jisung was carrying and was touched. He looked up at Jisung's face next and his heart sank when he saw his expression change to arrogant.

"Useless. Fortunately for you, I have leftovers. I was going to feed them to the sheep here but it looks like I'll have to give them to you guys now! Don't be shy and eat."

The expressions of everyone, including Felix, turned ugly immediately.

"What do you mean by that!" Seungmin growled in anger.

"Nope. I'm out. That dickhead is giving them food? Is this some deliberate arrangement by the production crew?" Comments exploded. Most of the viewers didn't see that Jisung made the money himself.

Jisung took out the rest of the money from his pocket and deliberately waved it about in their faces. There was over 9 pound. "You useless trash!" Jisung said.

"You are the useless trash! Wait. How did you get the money?" Seungmin could not believe what he was seeing.

The flames of Seungmin's anger burnt hotter. He glared at Jisung and wished with all his might that he could tear him limb from limb.

"Hah. Useless." Jisung said.

Felix had been silent the whole time, observing Jisung's expressions closely. Subtle competitiveness rose in his heart, putting him at a loss.

Jisung called the landlord over right in front of them and paid the rent for the remaining two days.

"Don't you think this is amusing, Young Master Li? I'm a kept pet in Seoul, but out here, it's me who's feeding you guys." Jisung turned away and went to his own room after saying that.

"Fuck! I can't stand it! I'm going to earn money right now!" Seungmin said after Jisung left.

"Me too." The other, younger man said. The two girls also got to their feet quietly too.

Their energies which had been low suddenly all fired up. The couldn't take the humiliation and wanted to find a job before the night. Their intentions were wonderful, but their bodies were in no state to allow them to act. They were starving.

Seungmin picked up his chopsticks and started eating with shame on his face.

"We will have the strength to look for work with full stomachs. Eat up, everyone. We will work hard in the afternoon. If Jisung can make money, then we can too!" Seungmin shoved food angrily into his mouth.

"Mm, let's eat. We'll remember this humiliation."

"Yeah! We must earn money later, and throw food in Jisung's face too when we get back."

Felix felt that these dishes Jisung had brought back for them were just too coincidentally the same as when they had talked about the countryside dishes they wanted to try in the van. Felix could also tell that contrary to what Jisung claimed, these dishes were not leftovers, they were clearly untouched and looked like they had been packed right after they had been freshly prepared.

'Just what in the world was Jisung trying to do? What was he scheming?'

Felix's thoughts were in a mess, and he did not move as he watched Jisung's room window.

Meanwhile, Jisung's individual livestream was quiet; it was different from the main live broadcast screen. Netizens were watching Jisung, but they did not know what they should comment on.

The viewers felt conflicted about his actions. Just the words he had spoken were enough for him to be ridiculed for life if screenshots were taken. Even so, they were still not saying a negative word about him; they had this faint feeling of not being able to bear to do so.

Jisung swayed weakly as soon as he entered his room, and only regained his balance by supporting himself with the doorframe. Right after that, he went to lie flat his bed; he had not even taken off his shoes. The sight of him made the viewers worry.

Jisung's face was a little too pale. His lips, too, were pale, and he was obviously very tired.

Come to think of it, Felix and his group had had a tough morning, but Jisung had not had rest either. He had also been exposed to the heat of the sun as he worked, and he had not eaten yet.

"Aah, Jisung can be quite likeable if he holds his tongue and is quiet." A comment popped up and it was quickly met with agreement.

"Yep. He's terrible once he opens his mouth, and it's no use no matter how handsome or talented he is."

"I think it's disgusting too, but I'm just here for the eye candy."

The cameraman in charge of filming him found it unbearable and reminded him. "You should cover yourself with the blanket if you want to sleep." 

The cameraman sighed. There was a pang in his heart as he watched Jisung, who had been too tired to give him a response. He had an impulse to say, "I will go out and buy some food for you if you are hungry. Eat, then sleep." The cameraman felt sorry for him.

Jisung got to his feet after Seungmin and the others were done eating and left the rent room. He did some light cleaning up, changed his clothes and went out the door.

He bought two stuffed buns and a plain one from a little stand, and threw the stuffed buns casually to the cameraman, saying, "Greasy." He then held the bag with the plain bun in his hand and took bites out of it as he walked.

The cameraman was almost certain that Jisung was a truly kind-hearted young man.

Why did Jisung need to make up such an excuse to give him something to eat?

These two stuffed buns were not expensive, but it had not been easy for Jisung to make the money to afford these.

At that thought, the cameraman looked at the stuffed buns in his hand and found himself at a loss for words.

And this time, the viewers of Jisung's individual livestream detected something wrong. However, Jisung had made too many bad impressions on them, and they did not react right away.

"Even a meat bun is too greasy for him? I'd like to know what exotic delicacies he usually eats!" A comment said.

The old Jisung has been driven onto the road of despair by these netizens, so the new Jisung was going to use the public's opinion to paint himself as a noble and generous character, to make it fair to the old Jisung.

He had arrived at the bottom of the mountains behind the village when he finished the plain bun, and he went to the stream to pick a large bundle of Sabai grass.

"What are you going to use these for?" asked the cameraman curiously. Jisung did not answer.

He carried the sabai grass he'd picked back to the place he was staying at and sat in the coolest part of the yard.

Jisung's guesses had been all too accurate, because Felix and his group were indeed in a terrible state which was beyond dirty.

About half an hour ago, Felix and his group increased their job-seeking range because they had not been able to find jobs in the town. They'd walked till they reached a pig farm at the very outskirts of town, where they found their first job.

Cleaning out the pig dump.

These were city-bred young masters and ladies. Telling them to clean up pig dumb now was no different from simply killing them.

The disgusting smell coming from the dumb was enough to disgust a person even before stepping inside. The memory of Jisung's mocking, however, spurred them on to gather their courage and not give up.

"I'll go first! You girls wait outside." Seungmin was gentlemanly.

Felix settled the two girls down and hurried in after him.

The two girls went inside in the end, and all five of them worked together, slaving away for a full three hours to finally clean it all up. All that hard work, for 2 pounds.

"Money! We earned money!" The youngsters laughed excitedly when they saw Felix receive the 2 pounds from the pig farm manager.

The two girls didn't care about getting dirty either, and they hugged each other and jumped for joy. Seungmin and the other young man were also in a similarly excited state.

Two pounds was not a lot, but it was their first time earning money for themselves. It also meant that they would not be starving tonight.

"Buns! Let's buy buns!" they yelled. They then started doing calculations for their dinner. Five people, 2 ponds... Vegetable-stuffed buns were 5 pence each, and the meat-stuffed ones were 10 pence. The money they had was definitely enough to fill all their stomachs.

The auntie selling buns thought they were adorable and gave them an extra bun with meat filling. This free bun made their spirits soar with happiness.

"I'll throw this in Jisung's face when we get back. Ha! We can earn money too!" Seungmin said.

Meanwhile, Jisung was still working on the sabai grass.

Downturned lashes and lips pursed in concentration. It seemed that even the breeze in the yard became gentle due to his focus, and he looked like a painting of peacefulness.

"Man, Jisung looks so fiiiiine when he's making stuff like that." Comments popped up.

"He's like a devil. People will flock around him if he doesn't speak, but they will want to curse at him once he opens his mouth. I'm convinced that he's schizo. I can't find any words to describe him."

"My heart is weary but I can't stop myself from watching on. Why am I such a masochist?"

Felix and his group arrived at the door to the yard just as Jisung tucked in the final bit of grass on the last straw hat he was working on.

They had come back straight after purchasing the buns, and they spotted Jisung fiddling with something. His handsome, serious face was as pretty as a picture and it made them pause in awe. Felix, too, could not tear his eyes away.

Jisung had something about him which drew the attention of people naturally. People were more forgiving of beautiful people after all, and Jisung was a beautiful existence such as this.

They quickly snapped back to their senses, and the humiliation they had suffered at noon came to their thoughts once more.

"Seungmin! You tell him!" The two girls pushed Seungmin forward.

"Hey!" Seungmin barked at Jisung. Jisung looked up.

"This is to pay you back for lunch! And this is just our leftovers from after we've had our fill." Seungmin's voice was loud, but there was no force behind his words.

What was unexpected was that Jisung did not ridicule him this time, he accepted the bun very calmly.

"Only you would buy such bad and tasteless food." Jisung stood and returned to his room right after saying that.

Seungmin stared at Jisung's back for while before finally coming back to his senses.

"He's such a- Just you wait, Jisung! We're going to get money, and cover the tabletop with a feast!"

His outburst was met by Jisung's soft laughs of disbelief.

The youngsters who were upset at being unable to humiliateJisung in the face with their success got the wind back in their sails again. Though they had only earned a small bit of money, they had still earned some! Plus, they had a pretty good dinner. This gave them more confidence, and a hope that the would definitely earn more tomorrow.

They chatted with each other, and encouraged each other, and they were soon cheery again.

The netizens watching their livestream were infected by the cheer too, and the bullet screen became quite lively.

"The young are easily satisfied. A good meal, a small target met, and they can be very happy."

"Ah, how nice. I want to be with them too. But where did that stewed meat come from? I don't remember the landlords in the previous seasons giving the contestants meals."

"Who knows? That's not important."

"True." Those who had watched Jisung's individual livestream, however, all had mixed feelings. They knew that the stewed meat and mung bean soup had been purchased from the landlord by Jisung. He had also bought his cameraman a bowl of noodles while making that purchase.

He had said the usual rude thing, that he was "just pitying the poor suckers who have to buy mostly vegetable-stuffed buns", but no one called him 'loathsome' or 'arrogant' this time. Instead, they started to reflect on their opinions of Jisung, and wonder if they had grossly misunderstood him due to their own one-sided views and exaggerated perceptions of him.

\--------

Jisung returned to his room, but he did not sit and rest right away. He stood carefully by his window and peered out at the others in the yard.

He waited till he saw the landlord send over the stewed meat and mung bean soup as a "reward" for watering the vegetables, then seemed to let out a sigh of relief. A smile came subconsciously to his lips. When he noticed the camera pointed at him, however, that smile was quickly curbed.

"Why do you have to make up such an excuse to help the others get more food?" The cameraman thought over it for a long time and he couldn't help but blurt out this question even though he knew Jisung cared about others. Jisung stayed stubbornly to the script, and explained it by saying, "I'm just paying them back."

"But that bun they gave you and the stewed meat you gave them is not a very balanced exchange, is it?" The cameraman responded with a piercing question.   
He was finding it difficult to hold himself back now. He felt that Jisung had been grievously wronged. Jisung had clearly been taking care of everyone, so why did he have to suffer the ruining his good name because of some script? What live broadcast? What job? All these were nothing to the cameraman now when compared to the wrongs Jisung was suffering. 

This was why he wanted to give Jisung a chance to say everything that he wanted to say.

However, he did not expect that Jisung would still follow the script and say words which fit the role.

"I have a younger brother who's about the same age as Seungmin, only... unlike him... he's disabled..."

Jisung's voice seemed heavy with sadness, like he was thinking of something sorrowful, but in the next second, his tone changed. "Just kidding. I'm an only child. If I really had a brother like Seungmin, I'll definitely beat him up ten times a day."

Jisung's eyes were full of malicious mockery, clearly showing that he had deliberately put on a sad act to make fun of others. However the sight of his satisfied, bun-eating face made all the netizens watching him swallow the scoldings they had been about to unleash.

They saw that he was a little too focused on eating. He ate as though what he held in his hand was not a cooled and greasy bun, but some sort of luxurious meal prepared by a five-star Michelin chef. The gaze which fell upon Felix and the others in the yard was also especially gentle.

He really did like Felix and the others very much. He liked them so much that he would smile when he watched him. He liked them so much that he did not fear becoming a "disgusting piece of trash" in the eyes of others.

Jisung immediately wiped all expression from his face when he noticed the camera pointed at him, and resumed his proud, arrogant persona.

The look in Jisung's eyes made the heart of every person watching ache for him.

"Sigh. Felix and the others would definitely not have gotten any food today if it weren't for Jisung."

"That's right. Some of them wanted to throw in the towel at noon today but didn't because of Jisung's mocking."

"It was the same at night too. He asked the landlord to give the others food using the excuse of thanking them for watering the vegetables. Do you see how happy Seungmin and the rest are now?"

"But Jisung himself, his own meals are..." The person writing the comment couldn't seem to find the right words, and chose to leave the sentence trailing.

And yet more people's hearts ached for Jisung when they read that comment.

It was true. Seungmin and the others had had a tiring day but they had had a hearty lunch, and a good dinner of stewed meat and mung bean soup. But Jisung, who had been far more laborious than them, had only eaten simple dry food like the plain and stuffed buns.

They would have exploded for sure if they'd been in his shoes, but Jisung looked at Felix and the others eating with satisfaction, and was delighted that Seungmin had given him a cold steamed bun.

One netizen went and compiled all the scenes involving Jisung from the start of the filming and did scene breakdowns, one by one. The scenes made many netizen's hearts ache.

Jisung's clumsiness with others made their hearts ache, and his perseverance made them want to weep for him.

Who would have guessed that the seat Jisung had occupied in the van on the way to the county town was the most bumpy, suffocating and uncomfortable one? He had refused to change seats with the two girls because he had been worried that their condition would worsen.

And his refusal to share a room with the other guys was because there were too many of them. Each room could only comfortably hold three people. If four big boys were to stay in a room, it was likely that none of them would be able to rest well. And so, Jisung had chosen to remove himself from the room-sharing and land himself in a situation where he had no clue if he would be able to make money the next day, but he had been called uncooperative, petty and unreasonable for his consideration.

The lunch and extra food too, needed no further explanation. If Jisung truly despised Seungmin and the others and wanted to crush them, why would he buy the dishes they wanted to eat, right after he made money, and settle the problem of their rent?

Jisung was caring for Felix and his group just like how an elder brother would take care of his younger brother.

So this meant that they had misunderstood him from the beginning.

Jisung was not a piece of trash. He was just a child who was 17 or 18. It was only because he was not used to expressing himself that he got hate.

They had been so bastardly bad that they could find no words to describe themselves. The netizens watching the livestream fell silent immediately. This silence was not because they had been dumbstruck by Jisung's actions, but because their hearts were just hurting too terribly, and they were just feeling too guilty to know what to say about it.

"I suddenly feel like crying. I cursed Jisung so many times... Now I want to go back in time and swallow all those words."

"I've been slapped with clarity. I must have been blind to say so many hurtful things."

"I was the one who made the first hate meme. Now I feel like chopping my hands off. I am going to make and edit a video right away and post it up on Twitter later to apologise and explain things."

The first apology comment opened more apologies. The Twitter gossip bloggers who had only been spectating and waiting to edit scenes for hot gossip up till that point, were unable to bear this any longer. They gathered to discuss how they could support Jisung.

They were definitely going to make the best video to support Jisung.

\--------

Meanwhile, Seungmin, Felix and the others in the courtyard had eaten their fill and were discussing what to do to make money.

"It'll be great if we can make something to sell." Seungmin said.

Just then, one of the girls suddenly discovered the straw hats under the grapevine trellis, and she let out a cry of surprise.

"Wow! This is beautiful. Does it belong to the landlord?" She picked one up and put it on her head, and the eyes of the others lit up immediately.

They were different from the farming straw hats they usually saw on TV. These straw hats were more delicate in handiwork and the patterns were especially pretty. The hats spoke of rare elegance in craftwork, and were fresh and unique in style.

The other girl also picked a straw hat up and tried it on. "It's beautiful! I wonder where they sell these."

This careless remark made the others think of the word 'sell' right away.

"Say, do you think we can take these and sell them?" Felix was the first to react.

"I'll go ask Auntie Landlord." Seungmin was quick to respond, and he ran off to look for her.

"I was just saying that we could try to sell something, and we have the 'something' now. Look at this hat! If we can sell one for 2 pounds, then these ten hats here would earn us 22 pounds."

"Is 2 pounds too expensive? Will people really buy them?"

"They will, for sure." Felix thought for a bit.

The others quickly agreed, and they began a lively discussion on what they would do to sell the hats the next day.

They knew it. The production crew would not just abandon them. If the production crew really didn't give them anything, they would not be capable of making living expenses appear out of thin air even if they were divine beings. They were not that stupid.

In his room, Jisung let out a sigh of relief. He had watched them circle the bait he had laid out for them for ages, and they had finally taken it.

And right then, the cameraman seized the opportunity to ask him, "You spent all afternoon weaving those. Aren't you going to get them back from them?"

"Who wants a pile of green hats?" Jisung threw the cameraman a scornful look.

"Awesome! This is a live example of a complete 'tsundere'!" a comment popped up and received a lot of agreement.

The comment section was lively again, but this time, it was not verbal abuse or insults. The screen filled with kindly teasing.

\--------

Jisung did not stay lazy. He avoided Felix and his group and went out the back door of the place they were staying at. He found the only shop in the town and bought a small basket of rags, then circled around and returned through the back door.

It was nine in the evening by the time he was done with his coming and going, and it was the scheduled end-time for livestream filming for the day. The cameraman left too, so that he would not disturb Jisung's rest. Seungmin and the others too, after wasting some time, went back to their rooms in ones and twos to get ready for bed.

Jisung, on the other hand, had no intention of sleeping. He sat at the table and worked on the rags he had bought earlier that night.

Jisung was tired after making a few flowers, and he stood to stretch. Just then, his attention was caught by the sound of water splashing. It was coming from the yard.

Jisung pushed the door open and was surprised to see Felix by the well drawing water.


	6. 2nd

Felix had come out to have a drink of water. Perhaps it was because of the exertions of the day, but he had woken up after only a short while feeling like his body was especially weak. Felix held his breath, the hand pulling the rope of the bucket was trembling.

"Need help?" Jisung hurried over when he saw the situation.

Felix did not even imagine that Jisung would come over, and he subconsciously moved to avoid him. The bucket, which was almost out of the well, fell back into the well with a splash.

Felix forced himself to look calm and gave Jisung a nod in greeting. However, what happened next was even more embarrassing. A very clear and audible growl of an empty stomach broke the silence between the two young men. Felix's face flushed red immediately.

"Hungry?" Soft laughter escaped Jisung's lips.

The Jisung right now had none of the arrogance he had displayed during the day, perhaps because there was no camera on him.

Felix wrinkled his brow. He did not respond, but he reddened further and was even more embarrassed. Jisung was not put off by his coldness, however, and reached out instead to grab the rope of the bucket.

"Your position is not right, and that's why you can't pull it up when you can't put strength into it. You need to follow this direction to make it easier to use your strength." Jisung gave instructions to Felix in a soft voice, and the distance between them closed. There was no intention to seduce in his actions, but Felix became nervous still.

It was not what Felix had imagined. He'd thought that he would be disgusted. The temperature of Jisung's skin was cooler than a normal person's. The occasional touches on the back of his hand entranced him easily on a night like this.

But Felix frowned more deeply when these feelings surfaced, because the relationship between Jisung and Minho was a knot in his heart that he found difficult to untie. And this situation right now too. Jisung's easy manner made him all the more of a mess.

But the silence was not necessarily a bad thing to Jisung, and he thought that Felix was oh so adorable right now.

From Jisung's perspective, the old Jisung's tragedy had no real relation to Felix from the start, and it was all Minho's fault. And in the old Jisung's world, Felix had been disgusted by him, but he had still hinted that he would help him out during the shooting of the programme. However, the old Jisung had rejected, so Felix did not bother with him anymore.

He could also be considered the only person who had shown the old Jisung kindness out of all the people he'd met.

Right now, he was pursing his lips and looking a little stubborn, like a little abandoned kitty feeling so wronged.

"Come with me." Jisung sighed, and gave him a wry smile as he led him to the kitchen.

"What do you want to do?" Felix couldn't help asking.

Felix's nervousness made Jisung's bad side show, and made him want to tease him.

"Why are you being so petty now? You were so warm and reliable during the day." Jisung looked back at him and teased deliberately.

"You're one to talk. You can't even look people straight in the eye during the day." Felix shooted back.

Jisung's smile grew wider. He was also afraid of going overboard with the teasing and really making him angry, so he stopped talking. He quickly found some ingredients, started a cooking fire and got ready to cook.

Jisung's cooking skill could not be compared to that of a chef, but he was definitely above average. He was also cooking to appease, so he was going to make it look and taste awesome, even if it was just an egg noodle.

The noodles were cooked, rinsed and added to the broth. This dish was refreshing, and best for one with an appetite in the summer night.

The final touches were a fat, white soft-boiled egg and some of the landlord auntie's pickled vegetables, with green onions and sesame seeds sprinkled over the top. An enticing bowl of egg noodles, freshly prepared.

"Try my cooking." Jisung put the bowl down in front of Felix.

Felix hesitated, then picked up the chopsticks and had a bite.

It was surprisingly delicious. Felix paused, and glanced at Jisung in amazement.

Jisung cleaned up the cooking area as Felix ate.

Sounds of movement. Quiet. It was very cosy in the little kitchen. Felix watched Jisung busying about, and was inexplicably moved.

However, another thought popped into his head in an instant. Jisung was so skilled at taking care of others, was it because he usually took care of Minho like this?

The delicious noodles lost all flavour at that thought, but Felix quickly chased that thought with another, that his sudden thought was sexual. He hurriedly forced that thought down, but his heart beat with anxiety.

"Thank you." He said.

Exhaustion abruptly overwhelmed him after the tiring day he had had, and his legs grew weak. Felix was suddenly having difficulty walking. Jisung saw the state he was in, and quickly supported him from the front.

Jisung was shorter than Felix, and he had had a tiring day too. His hands were, understandably, not very steady. The addition of Felix's weight made them both stagger. Felix out his arms around Jisung rather subconsciously, and just so happened to envelop him in his embrace.

Felix rarely had such close contact with another person, and he froze right away as his ears were swiftly stained red. He was like a kitty which had been lifted by the scruff of the neck all of a sudden. He was so pure and innocent, no matter which angle you looked at him.

Jisung found his inexperience adorable, and he couldn't help himself as he reached out a hand and pinched Felix's ear teasingly.

Felix stared wide-eyed at Jisung in astonishment. Jisung, on the other hand, was calm and he looked pointedly at Felix's arms around his waist. Felix stood up and ran off.

Jisung started to laugh.

Felix heard him clearly, and he felt his face grow hotter.

'That Jisung was such a flirt! I still hate him!' thought Felix.

Jisung had returned to his room after Felix ran back into his, and continued working on the fabric flowers.

Yep, teasing that child sure did put him in a good mood. He had been tired but he was now quite energised.

That night was difficult for Felix. Maybe it was because dreams at night were made of thoughts in the day. The accidental embrace they had shared played over and over in Felix's dreams, and he tossed and turned all night.

\--------

Jisung's deliberate arrogant act came back making the night's events all the more surreal. Felix knew that Jisung had received a script to put on a specific persona and that this should all be an act. That flirty man last night who had loved to tease him like he was a child was most likely his true self.

Felix started to pay even closer attention to Jisung because of this, and he grew more aware of the small details which Jisung had let slip under his acting. He noticed, especially, the fabric flowers they had coincidentally found, which could be used to adorn the straw hats, in the corner of the courtyard just as they had been about to go out. Felix strongly suspected that these flowers had been made by Jisung, in a secret bid to lend them aid.

Felix had been watching Jisung in secret last night, and he knew that Jisung had come out of his room at about two in the morning and put something over here. He clearly recalled that Jisung had been fiddling with something in this very spot too, before they had discovered the straw hats. Plus, Felix realised that they had forgotten a very important question. How had Jisung managed to make that much money on the first day?

There was only one answer when he put all these events together. The straw hats they held in their hands now had been handwoven by Jisung.

Felix's heart sank immediately, and an unpleasant feeling rose. He glanced at Jisung's tightly-shut door in the distance.

Felix looked away with that thought in mind, and walked out the yard with Seungmin and the others.

The end of the practise days drew close. Felix and the others finally succeeded in making money with Jisung's help, and they got through the most difficult first stage. What followed next was the true challenge. The production crew was finally going to take them to the actual village.

It was different from the past seasons where the participants had been separated and placed with host families. This time, they were all thrown into a small inn together because they had successfully made money and paid rent. The inn looked like it was about to fall apart, and the inside was way worse than it looked outside. And in this terrible place, they were given a new task to complete.

"Due to the limits of the programme's budget, you guys cannot stay with host families and can only stay here now. As for the daily necessities you lack, you have to buy them with the money you have on you now."

Everyone was stunned. The group only had under 33 pounds, even if they counted Jisung's earnings. The six of them had to survive here for a month.

The livestream comment section was going crazy with laughter.

"Hahaha! The director is so cruel!"

"I can't take it. They're so pitiful but I still want to laugh."

"Kinda tsundere. Hey, don't you guys think that Jisung and Felix are similar at some angles? They look like brothers when they stand like that." That last comment had been written in Jisung's individual livestream channel.

Though the atmosphere was jovial in the comments, it was gloomy on Jisung's end.

It was not just him. The other youngsters were still in shock and they took quite a while to get over it. The key thing was, perhaps because Jisung had been the first of them to earn money, and this, in turn, had an impact on them, but the rest of them, including Felix, all automatically looked at Jisung with a pleading gaze for help.

Jisung was speechless. His task here was to destroy the bad guy. How had it turned into taking care of children?

Even so, they could not keep standing dumbly when the sun was at that point in the sky. They had to at least fix their beds, doors and windows, or their safety would not be guaranteed at night.

Jisung decided to make a move first.

And so, he still used the same old method to "encourage" them, and got Seungmin and the others to get to work.

Their dinner was bought with their own money from the villagers nearby. The production crew had shown them the prices clearly, and this meal was way more expensive than the meals they'd had in the small county town. Because of this, the money they had was reduced to over 22 pounds.

They had never imagined that the production crew would be so cruel as to not treat them humanely anymore. The rental for a month for this house was actually going to cost them 56 pounds.

If they couldn't pay up by midnight tomorrow, they would have no roof over their heads and be forced to roam the streets.

The youngsters who had just filled their stomachs were shocked speechless once again by the disturbing news.

Even Jisung couldn't help the astonishment on his face. This was now completely different from the story of the old Jisung's memories. In his memories, the old Jisung and Felix's group had not managed to make any money and failed their first task in the small county town. Because of that, they were immediately thrown in with their host families after they arrived in the village. The script that the new Jisung held in his hand now also wrote about this continuing scenario.

It was completely unexpected for things to have progressed in this way. This development was totally different from the old Jisung's memories. This was good too, though, it was too boring to keep to the pre-set order of things. Jisung thought about it, and quickly went back to being calm.

Even the directors had also been surprised by the turn of events. This was because there had never been a single participant in all the past seasons of the programme who had managed to succeed at earning money in this place.

One could say that Jisung's existence in the programme was like that of a glitch.

This sudden development in the programme was enough to make the directors so busy that they could twist themselves into pretzels. The development on Twitter that night also made a bad situation worse for the directors.

No one expected, on the night the directors gave their latest task, that the gossip Twitter bloggers who had been bad-mouthing Jisung all along would release a clip which would justify Jisung's actions. They had even pitched in to purchase a "most searched" spot in the rankings so that the video would have enough exposure.

The video was not very long, just three sections, but the edits were done very cleverly. It showed every bit of Jisung's consideration, and the care that he had shown Felix and the others was brilliantly displayed.

And the focus of the video was on Jisung weaving the flower baskets and straw hats. Not one frame was left out. These gossip bloggers wanted nothing more than to make this segment of the video one of the pure beauty of handicraft in order to make people see Jisung's talent all the more clearly.

And the last section shocked people speechless. It showed screenshots of the bullet screen comments making personal attacks on Jisung.

Blogger: If you did not see it with your own eyes, you would never know how dark and utterly malicious the hearts of man are. We all owe Jisung an apology.

"Swapping Lives" was very popular, but it was not a variety show on the national level, so a lot of people had not watched it before. The whole of Twitter exploded when this video was uploaded.

Many were turned into instant casual fans after watching the video. The Jisung in the video was truly too likeable. Many wished that they had a brother or a son like this.

Even hearts made of stone would melt, much less because he was a boy who could easily sway others. The comments displayed towards the end of the video, words so terrible one would feel they stained the eyes if one looked at them, immediately stirred up feelings of indignation in the hearts of many.

"I thought that the gossip bloggers were most likely buying a 'most searched' spot for marketing a debut. I can only say that this Jisung boy really makes my heart hurt for him."

"I really want to punch those haters in the mouth! He is such a good child! Are you guys blind?"

"Saying that they're blind is too kind. It's the internet. They feel like they are all powerful and impressive with cable connection, and even insult people behind their backs like this. I wonder what sort of disgusting face is behind this."

"I've never watched Swapping Lives before. I'm going to watch it now, for Jisung."

In the short span of a few hours, the terms "Jisung", "Swapping Lives", and "Cyber violence" were added to the hot search terms list.

And those original fans of "Swapping Lives" were also stunned speechless when the whole incident blew up.

No one expected that the young man whom people called the lowest of the low in the main livestream comments was actually doing so many things quietly in the background. If this had not been revealed today, it was likely that this innocent young man would have to bear these terrible labels on him till the end of the programme.

The Twitter page of the directors was flooded. As more and more apologies flooded in, questions came in too, asking them why they had never stepped forward to explain things when they had obviously seen that everyone had misunderstood Jisung.

The directors, in the meantime, were also in a state of doom and gloom.

Shouts calling for justice for Jisung had come deafening them too quickly.

This had been an unexpected disaster. In the beginning, when Minho had arranged for Jisung to join the programme, they had thought that Jisung was just a Felix substitute which Minho had tired of. Contrary to expectations, Jisung actually had a hidden level of astonishing skill. The script they had written for Jisung was entirely unsuitable.

They had shot themselves in the foot.

With his level of skill in weaving, Jisung would have no need to worry about meals in the smallest of villages, let alone a county town like this. In the script which had been given to Jisung, the requirement which said to "not work with others but work alone" was just simply giving him the opportunity to strike out on his own and make money, and also gave him the chance to help Felix and the others complete their task.

As for their other requirements, Jisung had not broken any of it.

They had required him to "speak unpleasantly", and Jisung had very earnestly crushed Seungmin.

The requirement for him to "not move with the group" was also fulfilled. Jisung did not even share the same room as the other young men.

The final requirement, which was for him to "be lazy and at rest in front of the others" had also been acted out perfectly. After all, whenever Felix and the others were in the courtyard, Jisung was always lying in his own room and he didn't come out.

Jisung had followed the script so far, and had not broken any of the requirements.

And the development on this end was quickly communicated to Minho. This very busy president of a company personally gave the directors a call.

"I am very curious to know how things turned out this way. Is this the script that you gave? The script that is supposed to help Felix change his public persona?" Minho said with a smile which creeped the directors.

"President Lee, this..." The director tried to explain, but he didn't even know where to begin explaining things. Minho had had a look at the script back then too, and there were no objections.

"I will take care of the PR for that post on the internet. As for the rest of the script, there's no need to change it. Let Jisung figure it out himself. Ah, but remember to deliver the latest morning paper to them tomorrow." He said.

Based on Jisung's previous track record of obedience, Minho felt like he should give him a good, final warning. This little thing must not forget who the real master was.

That night, there was a fire in the area in which Jisung lived in Seoul. Fortunately, the fire department arrived in time and there were no losses. The flower garden next to the old villa house which had caught fire, on the other hand, had been burnt to a crisp. 

\--------

This newspaper reporting the fire was then delivered to the hands of Jisung via the production crew.

Jisung accepted the newspaper, and he understood immediately at first glance. This was a warning from Minho. The old villa house with a burnt up garden in the newspapers was Jisung's home in Seoul.

As for the reason why, it was undoubtedly because Minho had felt that he was out of control now, and so he was threatening him.

He had known that Minho would make this move, whether he had followed the script or not.

Minho knew the past of the old Jisung like the back of his hand, and he knew what that old villa meant to him. It was the last thing the old Jisung's parents had left for him, and was his last warmth in this world.

The old Jisung held this house more dearly than his own life, and Minho had attacked it cruelly. He had done it to be certain that Jisung would do his absolute best to prop Felix up high, and not have any other thoughts in his head but that.

Minho was not treating him like a human being at all. His heart hurt so badly he could not breathe. He didn't understand why he felt the pain of the original character in this world when he didn't feel it in the last world.

Perhaps the pain and sorrow of the old Jisung's memories had been just too deep. He decided that he would be sure to teach Minho a good lesson later.

Jisung suddenly found that the task given to them today, to get enough money for rent, was simply a heaven-sent opportunity to further his goals.

He had an idea of what he was going to do.

Felix, who was observing Jisung from the other side of the room, was surprised to see the various changes in expression on his face. When Jisung moved out of the room, Felix came out silently, picked up the newspaper which Jisung had thrown to the floor, and glanced at it. After seeing the article on the fire, and the creases left by the tight grip Jisung had on the newspaper, Felix felt that what he thought was not entirely the same as what things were really like.

\--------

After breakfast, the group had to start thinking of ways to get money. Right now, if they counted Jisung's cash too, they had just 21 pounds left. If they failed to earn 35 pounds, they would end up homeless the next day. They had thought about it the whole night but had not come up with any good ideas. They thought it over and over, but were unable to come up with anything.

They were stuck.

"Did you think of anything?" Seungmin had been holding that question back for a long time, but he finally caved and asked Jisung.

Jisung took no notice of him. He left the house with a dull look on his face. What stood out to them the most, was that Jisung had taken out his money from the money jar containing everyone's cash, and gone straight out the door after doing that.

Misgivings sprang in the hearts of many watching the main livestream. Just what in the world was Jisung planning to do?

Seungmin and the others were shocked by Jisung's actions.

"Hey! Just what are you planning to do?" They needed to work together at this time, so Seungmin quickly stepped forward to block Jisung's way, fearing that there was something wrong with his head. However, Jisung did not spare him his dignity at all.

"I haven't had enough to eat for breakfast, so I'm going to look for more. Besides, this is money that I earned myself. I can do what I want with it." He was as arrogant as ever. Jisung turned away as soon as he was done talking.

The youngsters were hopping mad at that. Seungmin, too, had no way of dealing with Jisung.

"It's about time for us to set out too! Let's not bother about him. I don't believe that we won't be able to earn money without him! Didn't we earn our own rent money while doing the previous task? Come! Let's go out and take a look around, and look for work!"

"Yeah! Let's go together. We will shock Jisung when he comes back!"

The youngsters were all aflame with fighting spirit because of Jisung's provocation in the morning, and they went out in a group. However, Felix stayed at the back of the group, feeling unsettled. He had a feeling that Jisung had not gone to have breakfast, but to earn money. He just didn't want them to know about it.

'Could this be related to that newspaper?' He recalled the obviously-placed article on the fire, and how Jisung's face had paled all of a sudden. This helplessness, this feeling he couldn't grasp, made Felix's heart uneasy with a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

\--------

Meanwhile, on Jisung's end, he had not gone to have breakfast after leaving the inn. He walked through the village, and out of it.

"Where are you going?" asked the cameraman curiously.

He did not answer the cameraman's question.

It was just that this path he was taking and the direction was unclear. It kind of looked like he was heading to the county town which was 3 or 4 hours away.

'Holy crap! He's insane!' The first thoughts of the netizens watching the livestream was that Jisung was being too optimistic. Even if he wanted to use his previous method of selling his handmade woven items, it was going to be impossible just based on the time needed for it.

Jisung stepped quickly along the path to the county town alone, on his own. Sweat soon dripped from his face.

Someone was keeping track of the time; he had walked for almost two hours. It was not a dirt path, but the surface of it was not even and it was still difficult to walk on it. It was also an unfamiliar road, and the ups and downs of it tired him further.

People would not normally watch a person simply walking on a road, but it was entirely different in Jisung's case. Perhaps it was his persistence and determination, or his patient endurance under that cloak of arrogance, but many did not switch to another livestream. They became more absorbed in what they were watching instead.

As he walked along that long road, the things in Jisung's hands increased in number. He had started with sabai grass, and turned it into a wicker basket, and more things were then added to this basket. He also put in a big bouquet of fresh, colourful flowers.

"We can basically confirm that Jisung's aim is to make money off his handicrafts!" guessed a person in the livestream comments. That comment was quickly followed by more discussion.

"But there probably won't be enough time. What time will it be when he gets to the county town?"

"I'm not so concerned about the time. What I'm concerned about is... don't you guys also think that Jisung is already very tired?"

The livestream chat was silent in an instant.

That's true. Jisung was indeed at his limit.

They could all tell that Jisung's breathing had become short.

"How much further is the county town?" Someone couldn't help asking for more information.

After this comment popped up on the bullet screen, others couldn't help expressing their displeasure at the unfairness Jisung faced too.

"I feel so sorry for this child. Just what is the production crew thinking? They should be taught to endure, not tortured. What did they create all those tasks for? Are they so set on driving them all to exhaustion?"

"Speak no more of it. Just looking at him is killing me. If Jisung were my younger brother, I would definitely run over there and tell them that we won't film anymore. There is no reason to torment our precious child like this." 

The chat screen was full of comments bashing the production crew, and meanwhile, the main live broadcast screen was exploding.

Many people had become Jisung's fans after they had watched the bloggers' video redeeming Jisung's good repute. This was why this time, there were many who were watching both the main live broadcast, and Jisung's individual livestream, and commenting on the bullet screen. Those who had felt bad for the difficulties Felix and the others had faced while looking for work were even more upset on behalf of the programme participants when they heard about what Jisung was going through.

The livestream screens imploded with comments. What these viewers did not know, was that the directors were way more distressed than the viewers were.

Because these children were working too damn hard.

Whether it was Jisung or Felix, they were all working too hard. They were working so hard that the directors were surprised at the turn in events.

The two girls, who were usually conscious about cleanliness, were even willing to sling dung water over their shoulders for 1 pound. Felix and Seungmin, too, had gone all out.

That feverish enthusiasm made the directors fear that something had snapped in them due to tiredness.

And Jisung was beyond description. The cameraman following him around was going crazy. He had never seen a person more persistent.

The cameraman was used to walking a lot and relying on his strength for his job, but he was at the end of his energy now from all this walking. Jisung kept going. Furthermore, this cameraman was part of the director's crew, so he knew better than the other people that Jisung had no hope at all of reaching the target amount he wanted to earn.

As he watched Jisung's steps grow heavier and heavier, the cameraman behind him found himself at a loss. He was worried that Jisung would collapse before he got to the county town, and also afraid that Jisung would be saddened if he gained nothing after going to the town. 

Jisung finally arrived at the small county town before noon.

\--------

"Finally there." The watching netizens breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the familiar scene. However, the following development caught them by surprise.

The viewers had thought that Jisung had planned on looking for a place and setting up a small stall, but he didn't. He went straight to a small building which looked rather elegant.

"What is he doing?" Quite a few people were curious. When the owner of the building opened the door, the line which Jisung said amazed all of them.

"I can make the wedding dress your daughter wants."

"Holy sh*t! A wedding dress?!"

"Was Jisung mad?"

The minds of all the netizens watching the livestream were blown. Even the cameraman behind Jisung was so shocked. The owner of the building was also stunned by this sudden proposal from Jisung. The proposal was quickly followed by a rejection.

She had indeed bought a small woven flower basket from Jisung and chatted a little with him because he was handsome. She had mentioned her dissatisfaction with her wedding dress and her wedding which was just around the corner. Even so, she didn't quite believe that Jisung was really able to do it.

Wedding clothing and basket weaving were not the same after all, so they could not be talked about as if they were.

"I know you don't trust me, but I still hope that you will give me a chance to prove myself. How about we do this? Let me take your measurements. You don't have to put down a deposit. I will make a ceremonial dress for the ritual toast first. If you think it's good, we can negotiate the wedding dress. If you don't think it's good, it is still no loss to you. Could you do me this favour, please?"

"We'll try, then." It was difficult to refuse a beautiful, earnest young man.

It was such a short period of time after all. It would be difficult, even if it were just a normal dress. A stunning dress? That would be a fantasy story.

The livestream screen was bursting with comments.

"What is Jisung thinking? A wedding dress in such a short amount of time? He doesn't even have a bolt of cloth!"

"He's being forced to do this by the production crew. He's scared that he won't make enough money, so he's being driven to desperation. He'd do any job."

"This is so worrying! What is he going to do if he can't make the dress!"

The chat screen was full of comments expressing concern for Jisung. Their anxiety was sky-high when Jisung exchanged all the money he had in his hand for dress making materials.

"Aaaah I'm dying of anxiety! I have two livestream feeds open. Felix's group has found work. If they finish the job successfully, they will get about 13 pounds in all. Add that amount to what they had this morning, and Jisung won't have to make ceremonial clothing at all. He can just keep it simple and sell flower baskets, and they could get 56 pounds together."

"That's right. Even if that's not enough, the six of them can go look for some work at night, and they would have roughly enough. What he's doing now, spending all his money to make some ceremonial dress... it's too reckless!"

"Plus, small county towns don't have any good cloth. Did you guys see what Jisung bought? It's tacky and shoddy beyond belief. How terrible is the final product is going to be?"

"I am so anxious for them! Why is the group not coordinated at all?!" 

The chat screen was filled with comments, everyone was talking at once, and all of them were worried for Jisung. The boy in question, though, was completely oblivious to their worry. He used his last 2 pounds to borrow a sewing machine from the owner of the tailor shop, and he got ready to get to work.

He glanced at the time. It was exactly noon. He could make it in time.

The netizens watching were of a completely different mind. But ten minutes later those netizens were all thunderstruck by the skill of Jisung's hands.

A feature of grass is that it is soft, yet easily malleable. What surprised the viewers was that Jisung could weave grass into a dragon and phoenix.

"O.M.G. Every time I see Jisung do that I feel like it's a blessing on my eyes."

"But that's no use. Are his good looks going to plaster themselves on that piece of red cloth?"

"It's woven grass after all. It can't look high class no matter how exquisite it is."

"What a shame." Several people sighed silently.

They didn't think that Jisung was capable of much more than just weaving. He really could make clothes.

Draw, cut, stitch. The basics of a sleeveless dress was formed in just three steps. It was cut simply in a modest style, with no real shape or drape to the dress yet, and the mermaid-bottom flare had yet to be added; it was not much different from a rag. Soon, however, Jisung used a pen and worked a miracle.

Regular patterns on dresses were made with brocade, but Jisung used acrylic paint to add lush flowers to the cloth.

The dusty gold had a natural subtle hint of time to it, and was a wonderful complement to the red of the cloth.

The patterns Jisung drew were beautiful and quite artistic.

Loveliness, from hem to hem, more refined than any paintings. There was no need for the dress to be worn for one to visualise how lovely it would look.

"So pretty!" The netizens watching were once again stunned by Jisung's skill. They did not dare believe what they had just witnessed.

"I don't know that to say. This is just... really amazing."

As time went by, Jisung's actions drew attention from the folk of the small county town. Even the bride-to-be had heard, and she came over. She had not thought much of it in the beginning, but one look at his work surprised her so much that she could not speak.

It was simply beautiful. It was more grand and perfect than all the ceremonial dresses she had envisioned.

And when the final touches, the grass-woven dragon and phoenix, were added, it became shockingly beautiful.

The grass-woven accessories adorned the dress, and Jisung did not just simply sew them on; he added colour. He used gold and silver to embellish them too, and made them unexpectedly even more magnificent.

"Do you like it?" Jisung let out a soft breath, and asked this question of the bride-to-be, who was looking the ceremonial dress up and down.

"I do, I do. Is this really for me?" The bride-to-be looked emotional.

"Mm-hmm, you can try it on. I'll help you modify the wedding dress if you have no objections."

"Yes, of course. I've brought my wedding dress." The bride-to-be could not be more eager. And this time, after witnessing Jisung's capability, she was fully confident in him, she was also beginning to look forward to what surprise Jisung could bring her.

What Jisung had chosen to do with the wedding dress was completely different from what he had done for the ceremonial dress. If the ceremonial dress was graceful and elegant, then the wedding dress was a vision from a fairytale.

Lifelike fabric flowers became a natural accessory on the train of the dress, held in place with woven grass. The rich blossoms which fell from the hairs of the brush at the collar became an echo of beauty. What was even more amazing was the floating fibre at the sleeves, like fairy wings. Jisung's hands had painted them with the vision of flowers.

The bride-to-be went eagerly to try it on, with the urging of the watching crowd. After she had changed into it, Jisung went up to her and suggested, "You can also try this hairstyle to go along with the dress on your wedding day."

His slender fingers had a natural warmth. He used just a few clips to lift the bride-to-be's long hair up, arranging it into style.

"This is..." The bride-to-be looked at herself in the mirror, wide-eyed with surprise.

Jisung motioned for her to stay still, and put the flowers he had picked in the morning in her hair. The charming bride-to-be was instantly transformed into a flower fairy. Pure and graceful, so beautiful that one could not look away.

"He's so talented!"

"Woooah! This wedding dress and that ceremonial dress are so beautiful! I'm choking on envy."

"Nope, I'm not envious I'm jealous! Why didn't I go to a small county town to get married!"

The chat screen of Jisung's livestream was flooded right away. The bride-to-be was so stunned she could not speak. She could not believe that the fairy-like woman in the mirror was herself.

Jisung did get his money in the end, of course. He gave the bride-to-be detailed instructions on the handling of the dress and where to add delicate stitching, received his money, and headed back.

224 pound. This definitely was a large haul. Jisung was quite pleased with the result, and a rare smile spread across his face. The viewers' hearts were all captured by that smile, and they wished that he would have that happy smile always.

The cameraman following him was blanked-out, as usual.

He had no more words in his vocabulary to describe the impact that Jisung had on him. It was surprising enough that this boy knew how to weave wicker and grass, but he could even make clothes! Was he really a normal 18-year-old young man? He was absolutely the greatest glitch in the programme.

\--------

All was running smoothly on Jisung's end, but Felix and his group's results were not as satisfying for them. They had never done farm work in their lives, and they earned very little after a hard day's work. If they added what they earned to what they had, the total came up to just a little more than 22 pounds.

"We're screwed. What do we do?" The youngsters were frustrated.

The early summer night was warm and most suitable for one to take a breather. Felix and his group were also dog-tired, and they all fell asleep quite quickly. They were only awakened in the dark of night by the cries of their bellies, and they discovered that it was going to be nine soon. Just then, one of them suddenly blurted, "Why hasn't Jisung come back yet?"

They had been too busy during the day and had all fallen asleep when they had returned, so they had taken no note of where Jisung had gone. Now that they had time to think, they found that something was not quite right.

Could something have happened to him? The relationship between teenagers was quite pure, so even if they did not get along, they would still worry for Jisung because they were fellow participants in the programme.

Felix bolted upright. "I'll go take a look. You guys stay here and rest."

"I'm coming too." Seungmin was concerned.

"No. There are girls in the house, so you can't leave them alone. You watch the house, and I'll go look for him." Felix said.

It was late now, but there was still no news from Jisung. Felix was very worried. He asked his cameraman and was even more worried when he learnt that Jisung had headed to the small county town.

Felix walked towards the entrance of the village while thinking that thought, hoping to spot Jisung's arrival.

The villagers close by saw him, and quickly called him to a stop. "Don't go over there, boy! The road is bad there. Careful, or you'll fall."

'The road's bad? How bad? What about Jisung, then? Was he delayed because the road was difficult to travel by night?' Felix's heart sank at the thought. He thanked the villagers, and his steps grew more hurried.

It was already past nine, and the small village had no street lamps, it was dark. Felix had just the light from his electric torch as he stumbled over the uneven road which leads to the small county town.

Felix grew more nervous the further he walked, and the worry he had for Jisung deepened. Half an hour passed before he knew it, and Felix still had not met up with Jisung. A familiar figure by the side of the road caught Felix's attention just as he was about to tell his cameraman to stop recording for now and ask the directors to send someone to look for Jisung.

Felix took a closer look and saw Jisung sitting by the side of the road and leaning into the embrace of his cameraman.

'What was going on here?' Felix was stunned. An unexplainable anger soon consumed his thoughts.

He had been so worried on his way here, worried that something bad had happened to Jisung, but here he was, doing something intimate with his cameraman in front of everyone. How could he be so careless?

Several thoughts circled about in Felix's head.

When he walked closer to them, he discovered that the cameraman was not holding Jisung like a lover. He was just supporting him because he had been so tired that he could hold on no longer.

Jisung's wet hair stuck to the sides of his face, and he looked like he had been pulled out of the water. However, his weak state did not diminish his charisma. That calm and composed way he held himself, like he had everything in the palm of his hand, was exceptionally attractive on this night.

Felix was dazzled and he said nothing for a while. A strange anxiousness flashed in his usually gentle eyes.

However, Jisung raised his head when he heard footsteps approaching and met his eyes. His unfocused gaze landed on him, and he lifted his lips in a slow smile. "I'm back."

Perhaps it was because of his exhaustion, but Jisung had completely forgotten to disguise his smile.

Felix's heart thumped. The aching from the depths of his heart rose up. Even his breathing grew a little more hurried. He took notice of nothing else, and stepped forward quickly to take Jisung from the cameraman's arms. He put him on his back straight away when he found that Jisung had no strength to walk back.

"There's still quite a distance to go. Put me down. I'll be fine after a short rest." Jisung made a small protest.

However, Felix pursed his lips and stubbornly refused to speak, but his steps quickened.

Jisung couldn't help a low laugh. This laugh was a little raspier than his usual clear voice, but it was all the more alluring for it.

Felix heard his laugh and he furrowed his brow. Before he could say anything, he was interrupted by Jisung's next move.

Jisung handed him all his earnings of the day.

"You..." Felix twisted around to look Jisung in the eye with disbelief when he saw the wad of money which had appeared all of a sudden in front of him. He had already been very surprised when Jisung had managed to make 19 pounds in a morning. He had actually earned even more this time!

Jisung did not avoid him either, and he let him watch as he counted the money. He put the money in Felix's jacket pocket after he counted it all.

"How did you do it?" Felix was dying of curiosity.

"I'm skilled! The county townspeople were quite generous too. I just did one job and I got the money easily. Am I awesome, or am I awesome?"

"You..." Felix was at a loss for words. He was so annoyed by his nonsense that he stopped in his tracks. He fell silent in the next second, and his spirits sank.

Felix abruptly recalled what Seungmin had said when they had first met Jisung. Seungmin had said that Jisung was Minho's plaything. So was Jisung so self-deprecating because he was overly conscious of this? Felix already found it unbearable but the added guilt made it even more clueless about how to express himself, and he looked at Jisung for quite a while, at a loss as to what to say.

Up close to him, the young man's clear eyes were writ with apology and remorse, like a shamed kitty cat, helpless, with its ears flattened. Jisung saw this and could not bear to tease him, so he quickly soothed him. "Okay, okay, sorry. I went to the county town today and made a wedding dress for a big sister who is going to get married. Stop making that face. Don't worry, I won't let you starve, hm?"

He raised his hand weakly and pinched Felix's face. Jisung gave Felix a brief description of what had happened over the course of the day, but avoided talking about the part in the middle where he had had difficulty.

Emotions roiled about in Felix's heart as Jisung talked and talked and fell asleep. This was a young body, but he had laboured for so long that he had pushed it to the limit.

Felix heard a steady breathing in his ear, and he turned his head subconsciously to see Jisung in exhausted sleep. He quickly and carefully made his steps lighter, and more steady, afraid that he would wake him up.

Meanwhile, Jisung's cameraman drew close too, and spoke quietly to Felix in detail about the things Jisung had done since they had started the filming. The rims of Felix's eyes reddened as he listened, and the softest depths of his heart was struck. 

The paths travelled by night were most difficult, and with a person on his back, it was past eleven when Felix returned to the village. He saw Seungmin and the others in the doorway of the lodging, looking anxious as heck. They were surprised to see Jisung on Felix's back.

"What's going on here? Should we call for a doctor?" Seungmin was in a panic.

The other three were also in a panic. Only Felix remained calm. He signalled for them to quiet down and said in a low voice, "It's fine. He's just sleeping because he's too tired. Seungmin, go with your cameraman to the directors to get some medicine from them. Somebody go heat up some water. You two girls, please have the beds made. Hurry."

After a lot of busying about for about 30 minutes, things settled somewhat. All through this time, however, Jisung woke not once; his strength had been thoroughly spent.

It was late at night now, but Felix and the others were not of a mind to sleep. They kept watch by Jisung's bedside. Under the weak lamp light, Felix lifted Jisung's hand and everyone involuntarily covered their mouths.

Jisung's perfect fingers and palms now had blisters. After his shoes and socks were removed, they found that his feet were bleeding from excessive friction. Just looking at them made them wince in sympathy.

"Who the hell did this!" Seungmin was outraged.

"Stop!" Felix hurriedly yelled for him to stop, then spoke with a heavy heart. He told Seungmin and the others of all the things Jisung had done to take good care of them.

"N, No way!" Seungmin and the others were stunned. They all looked at each other, unsure of how to react to what they had heard.

Who would have thought that the first meal they had had in the county town was the fruit of the labour Jisung had done under the sun, wicker weaving? The first small fortune they had made was also the result of Jisung's painstaking efforts to give them an opportunity, and not help that was given by the production crew. The kind-hearted landlady had given them food because she had been instructed to by Jisung. Even now, Jisung had extended his last bit of strength and walked for seven hours on top of entreating someone to entrust him with a job, all in exchange for stability for them for the coming month.

Silence enveloped all of them at once, and terrible guilt rose in their hearts.

Seungmin and the others felt like they were the true useless ones when compared to Jisung. Just thinking about his background made a sourness sting them so badly they could not speak.

Jisung had truly suffered.

They were all the pampered children of their families, but Jisung was a plaything created by Minho, a thing with a clearly marked price in certain circles. Jisung had also been given a script too, and he could only act as it dictated, his original personality disregarded. He had no freedom to act independently. Even then, he had painstakingly taken care of each and every one of them. The care he had shown them was equal, if not more than care for a sibling.

In contrast, the five of them had enjoyed Jisung's care of them and taken it for granted on top of complaining about him all the time. What utter ungrateful pricks they had been, to have not recognised his good intentions!

They would have had nothing to eat in the small county town if it had not been for Jisung.

Now, looking at the wounds on Jisung's hands and feet, and the money Felix had placed on the bedside table, the four youngsters flushed red and were at a loss for words. Seungmin felt like cutting his mouth for all the things he had said, and the two girls had cried so much that they had gone silent.

"It's better for us to split up. We still have work to do tomorrow. I'll keep watch here." Seeing that they had understood the situation, Felix did not keep them and continued treating Jisung's wounds. Only his tightly pursed lips and the red rims of his eyes showed that his heart was not calm at all.

Seungmin and the others sensed the mood and knew that now was not a good time to talk. It was late, and Jisung needed rest too. It was best if they left.

The youngsters departed quietly, and each returned to his or her bed to sleep. Even so, it was the worst night that Felix and his group had to bear, and the most uncomfortable.

All of them tossed and turned, and did not know what expression to put on their faces when they spoke to Jisung in the morning. They did not know how they were going to apologise enough for it to be sincere either.

\--------

At three in the morning, when everyone was asleep, Felix got out of bed quietly and went to the other end of the village to seek out the directors. He asked for his mobile phone from them, saying that he wanted to contact his family.

It went against the rules of the programme, but Felix's status was special so the directors did not dare say anything about it. Felix's phone was quickly found and handed to him.

"Thanks." Felix took his phone, turned around, and left.

Felix's phone call actually went to his elder cousin. It was very late at night, but he was not worried that his night-owl cousin would be asleep. Sure enough, the call was picked up after only two rings. Felix's first question was about Jisung.

"Why are you interested in him?" Felix's cousin was immediately disgusted when Jisung was mentioned.

Everyone in Seoul knew about the crap that Minho was doing. The Seo family was already showing him respect for their long-term relations when they had not cut ties with him in public. The Seo family would not have tolerated one who lusted after their heir, and created several substitutes otherwise.

"Don't say that." Felix could hear his cousin's bad opinion on Jisung, and he subconsciously rebutted, "He is different from what they say about him. I want to know more details about certain things. I remember I'd asked you to get someone to investigate, right? So what is the result of that? Also, do you know what is up with that article in the morning paper about a fire in a villa? Give me all the details."

"Just go film your programme. Why are you bothering with all of these? Hey, Yongbok, don't get tricked. A plaything like Jisung is the most insincere." Felix's cousin gave him a warning when he sensed that he had some good feelings towards Jisung.

\--------

His favourite little cousin was going on a programme where Minho had placed such a person after all, so data on Jisung had all been collected on Felix's cousin's desk way before filming started for "Swapping Lives". His assistant had read through it and said it was no problem, so Felix's cousin had not taken a proper look at it. Now that Felix was asking about it, he took it out and read it again. What he read was like a slap to the face.

They'd thought that Jisung had been with Minho for money, but what he read said otherwise. Jisung had been driven into a corner by his grasping relatives in his junior high school years, and that had been when Minho picked him up.

Minho, supporting him? He was obviously supporting himself. The villa he lived in was what his parents had left for him, and Minho had only flapped his lips. The annual upkeep fees for that villa was not small either, and there was the daily expenses, living expenses and school fees to consider too. Jisung had shouldered all of these expenses. What Minho had provided was only some seemingly high-end lessons.

In actual fact, these lessons and tutors Minho had arranged for Jisung were probably the greatest burden for him. These additions made it difficult for him to earn money, and also increased his workload on the studies front. This was simply not advantageous at all. Jisung being able to bear it and even learn everything well was a miracle in itself.

All these were trivial. What shocked Felix and his cousin the most was Jisung's specific address; they dared not believe their eyes.

Minho was just too cruel.

If the data collected was right, that villa was the last thing Jisung's parents had left to him. Minho was even making a move on that. 

"Insane. Is he insane? How can he bear this? Why is he with that Minho scum? It's not like he can't survive on his own either. Jisung has what it takes to make it in the entertainment world. Just what is he doing all this for?" Felix's cousin felt his breath catch in his chest; he felt suffocated. His view of him was overturned in that instant.

Felix lifted a corner of his mouth in a smile, but his eyes were ice-cold.

The days of interaction had let Felix see what sort of person Jisung was. He was a giver, used to giving to others, enduring, gentle, yet with a strong spirit. He was definitely not a parasite. Yet, he still stayed by the side of the scum known as Minho even when this sort of label was affixed to him. There was only one reason for it, Jisung loved him.

And it was a deep love too.

At the thought of the words "deep love", the air around Felix seemed to drop in temperature, and even his tone of voice turned icy.

"Cousin, go look for Minho tomorrow. Warn him not to make a move on Jisung again. I will handle the rest when the filming is all wrapped up."

"No problem, I'll go first thing in the morning. Minho is too much of a tyrant. Don't worry, your Big Cousin will get it done."

"Mm. There's not much else." Felix said.

"I hope you guys will keep it quiet that I made a call today." Felix was his same warm self, but that mild voice of his was indescribably intimidating.

He was from a distinguished family with inside information and was someone of standing to boot. The directors dared not offer any opinions on the matter. Minho might be their biggest sponsor, but they could not dare to offend a young master like Felix either. Even if he did not continue the family business, Felix was still the sole heir.

When Felix got a definite response from them and prepared to go back to sleep, it was already close to five in the morning. The sky had started to lighten.

Felix stepped out into the moonlight. It was almost daybreak when he got back to the inn, but he did not feel tired at all. He went to Jisung's room instead of going back to sleep, and cautiously touched his forehead. After confirming that he had no fever and that his body temperature was normal, he relaxed and lay next to him.

The sound of their breathing in the quiet room seemed especially thick. The smell of medicine wafted from Jisung's body to Felix's nose. The bitterness of the medicine was not a very pleasant smell, but it made Felix feel at ease for some reason.

It's nice having Jisung lying safe next to him.

\--------

They had stayed up too late the night before, so Jisung and the others were still not awake when the production crew arrived in the morning to start filming. Close to nine in the morning, Seungmin came out of the room with his hair in a mess and paid the rental fee per Felix's instructions from last night. He then led the three others in finishing up the chores in the inn in preparation to go out to buy breakfast.

As for Felix and Jisung, they had taken sick leave. Felix awoke when he heard activity, and only let his cameraman in when he ascertained that he could be filmed.

Jisung had just woken up too, and he looked unhappy about being woken up by the noise. 

"It's fine today, the rent has been paid. Go back to sleep if you're tired. I'll come get you when Seungmin and the others are back with breakfast."

"Mm..." Jisung was not fully awake and he was all muddle-headed. It seemed he did not recognise him. A beautiful young man was recommending that he sleep in a gentle voice, so he simply lay down again.

"Wh, What's going on here?"

Many netizens on the main broadcast channel were shocked. Jisung and Felix and his group had been like fire and water just a few hours ago, and now they were actually hugging. This change had come overnight, and was unexpected. It didn't make sense.

Jisung's live stream viewers and fans then very enthusiastically shared screenshots of the day before to show the people on the main channel what had happened. This was also shared on Twitter, much to his advantage.

Someone had made a video of Jisung making the ceremonial dress and posted it up on the internet. The casual fans who had thought Jisung was cute were now well and truly his heartfelt fans after they saw that video. Even the number of people purchasing access to Jisung's individual livestream on "Swapping Lives" was skyrocketing, and the number was unexpectedly as high as Felix's.

This was astonishing.

Felix had been a child star and had already had many fans of his own. Jisung, on the other hand, was an amateur with no prior appearance but he had managed to rival Felix in popularity. This was expected.

Felix benefited too from the rise in Jisung's popularity. His team had planned on relying on the programme to change his public persona, and this objective had been reached in a surprising way.

It was not because of Jisung, but because Felix had gone out of the village in the middle of the night and brought Jisung back on his back. That scene had started off a butterfly effect.

In that video, Felix, as a young man himself, had stubbornly walked for over an hour to carry his colleague back because he had been worried about him. This tenacity of his had brought a refreshing new view of "the nation's little brother".

It made viewers feel that the young man they had always seen as a child had finally grown up. He had become responsible, and even more warm and dependable than before.

No one expected that the video from yesterday would result in fans shipping on a programme like "Swapping Lives".

They were supporting Jisung and Felix as a couple.

The idea for this coupling had actually budded on the second day of filming for "Swapping Lives", but it had been put on hold because of the great misunderstanding of Jisung's actions at that time. The heartwarming scene of Felix carrying Jisung on his back under the moonlight was perfect material for this coupling.

The arrogant yet insanely talented responsible elder brother figure, and the good younger brother figure who was gentle and able to endure hardship, and cared for his elder brother. This pairing easily conjured up several scenarios in a person's mind.

Two young men in the countryside, one gentle, one proud. They were a great match just standing together, and that sense of pained tenderness between them made the viewers' hearts tremble with how adorable it was.

"I was just Felix's fan before but I feel like crossing over to the other camp now. What do I do? Sungie is sooo cute and his arrogance makes me want to push him down right away!"

"The focus should be on that smile Sungie had last night when he saw Felix. Daaaamn that was dazzling. How was it so darn gentle~"

There was an uproar on Twitter, and more and more screenshots from the livestream were being posted. The scene of the interactions of Felix and Jisung in the bedroom that morning made the fans of the shipping community feel like their world was complete.

The warm younger brother taking charge and telling the sleep-groggy older brother to go back to snoozing was simply just too sweet. This adorableness went viral for just a few hours before a webpage for Felix and Jisung was quickly made and the page soon gained 30,000 followers. The video of the interactions between the two was also immediately uploaded to the page, and someone even made an exclusive topic and tag for it. The Jilix pairing was thus established.

\--------

Far away in Seoul, Minho got the news right away. He clicked through the Jilix webpage, and the tags. Every line written on Twitter, every video clip, every fan-made picture of the two of them was like a slap to his face.

This really was a huge surprise. The substitute he had thrown out to become the stepping stone for his sunshine had actually become one with a relationship with his sunshine, and painted as a couple.

It was obvious that this was due to Jisung's schemes, and his aim was not to challenge him, but to get revenge on him. The visitor who came not long after convinced Minho more strongly of this feeling. The visitor was Felix's cousin and the first thing he said was, "Yongbok told me to tell you to stay away from Jisung."

"Stay away?" Minho was between laughter and tears. Jisung had been his plaything, groomed by him, and an outsider was now telling him what to do?

More importantly, the one who was protecting Jisung was none other than his most cherished Felix.

Anger and incredulity were added to Minho's indignation in an instant. He looked placidly at Felix's cousin and said measuredly, "I am rather curious. What status does Felix have to bother with what I do? Jisung is a plaything I groomed. What does it have to do with him even if I destroy him or break him?"

"You can try. You know how Yongbok is too. Our Felix is our family's sole heir. We can't ever let him be unhappy, so you can ponder it."

"He might have been yours, but that is not the case anymore." Felix's cousin left right after he was done talking.

The Seo family was threatening him, and it looked like Jisung had well and truly gotten Felix. Minho still did not dare to touch Felix and he also didn't dare to have a direct confrontation with the Seo family.

Now Felix whom he had guarded for years had been taken by the plaything he had groomed himself.

He only calmed down after a solid ten minutes. The first thing he did after calming down was to make a call to the "Swapping Lives" directors and get them to have Jisung contact him after filming for the day had concluded.

Minho was burning with rage. He decided that this time, he was going to give Jisung a proper warning and let him know who the true master was.

\--------

That night. Jisung was done with filming for the day and could finally go to bed, but he was called away by his cameraman. He knew that Minho had given the directors instructions once he went over to them.

It was highly likely that it was not a good thing that he wanted him to contact him at this time.

Sure enough, he heard Minho's fake warm greetings once the video call connected. "Looks like you're playing well."

Jisung heard the clear tinkling crash of something precious at the same time, and he saw what Minho had been fiddling with. It a piece of pure, translucent white jade.

Jisung watched with cold eyes, and he did not respond right away.

The old Jisung was all alone in the world after the death of his parents. What Minho could use to threaten Jisung with were just things which represented some part of his past. Other things, like money, were not what the old Jisung desired. There only was love for Minho which he could use to threaten.

This was why Minho mostly always threatened the old Jisung in this way. He also only needed soft coaxing words afterwards to make the old Jisung obey him.

Unfortunately for him, the new Jisung was not like the old. He held no love for Minho. What Minho did only made Jisung want to think of a way to crush him better.

It was good timing. The email he had scheduled to be sent before he had left was coming. Jisung lowered his head to conceal the contempt which flashed in his eyes.

This soundless response looked like an equivalent of an outright refusal to Minho, and the type of refusal that he despised the most.

A person like Jisung, who had nothing and could only live by depending on others. Where had he summoned the courage to dare to disobey him from?

Minho held those thoughts in mind as he put the thing in his hand aside. He said slowly, "You've grown up, Sungie. You're getting better and better at sinking your hooks into people. Someone came bearing a message for me this morning, warning me not to touch you. Can you guess who sent the warning?"

"Was it Felix?" Jisung knew.

"You're smarter than I thought. I had indeed underestimated you, but you're underestimating me too, aren't you? You think that I won't dare to punish you because you seduced Felix into speaking up for you?"

"How's that possible? I am just a little plaything of yours that you can throw about carelessly. I don't even dare to have a temper around you, so how can I be disobedient to you?"

His words were submissive, but the derision and intensity in Jisung's eyes was a complete opposite of what he said.

"Do you think that I really won't dare to touch you?" Minho was angered.

"I don't think that you won't dare to do so. I am certain that you won't bear to." Jisung raised his eyebrows and laughed, completely dropping the act of weakness.

"Minho, you have a very special addiction to raising beautiful children, particularly children who are 12 or 13, and are cute, delicate young boys. You desire to see them to maturity yourself from the way they act to the way they see the world, even their personalities will be molded to your own preferences. Afterwards, you will wait till they reach legal age and pluck those ripe fruits and eat them yourself. For you, this is what excites you the most. And Felix is the type that fits your preferences the best. It's too bad for you that Felix is not willing at all to be your toy, and you have no right to make him yours. That's why you found one substitute after another. Old, young, male, female... till you found me."

Minho's dirtiest desires were outlined, word by word, as Jisung's voice gradually grew deeper. It looked like he was gathering an aura of warmth and elegance about him and channeling it. It was like he had turned into Felix.

Minho was shocked speechless by this transformation. He continued staring at him, and obsession was added to his gaze.   
Jisung saw that, and he laughed slowly.

"I look a lot like him, don't I? Do I look like Felix? Do you feel like you've fallen for me? Uncle Lee, I am the product of your most successful attempt at creating a substitute. You lust after Felix but cannot have him, so you can only use these despicable methods to deceive yourself and others. You made a whole bunch of playthings but is there no one other than myself who can satisfy your obsession? Can you truly bear to kill me off?"

Minho was silent. He stared at Jisung's face and said nothing for a long while.

'Similar. So similar. Was it because he had personally interacted with Felix?' Minho thought.

Every frown and every smile of his was like the real Felix. More importantly, Jisung gave off a feeling which was different from Felix's soft arrogance as the heir of a powerful family. He was more intense. And this intensity was what made him most alluring. It was like seeing a fully mature Felix a few years later, all ripe for picking at any time.

Minho was entirely blank-faced. An email alert abruptly popped up on his computer, interrupting his roaming imagination.

He opened it up absentmindedly to find that it was from an anonymous sender. The contents of the email detailed evidence of tax evasion in his finance departments. It wasn't much in all, and the amount small, but every transaction was recorded in detail. This proved that the person who had managed to collect all this information was fairly skilled at digging things up.

No. The person didn't necessarily have to be skilled at digging things up. It could be someone close to him. Minho's face darkened. He looked up again at the very calm Jisung in the video chat, and realisation dawned.

This anonymous email was most likely the work of Jisung. Minho had been too lazy to move about when he had been at Jisung's place, and used Jisung's computer to open up the document with financial numbers that his secretary had sent. He'd thought that Jisung could make no sense of the data, and had no guts to betray him so he had been careless. He had underestimated him.

Minho was a man used to using power, and for a long time too, so he calmed quickly. He'd already been played by Jisung anyway. Just the email in his inbox proved that the words uttered in pleading for mercy earlier were all an act, and underneath that gentle and agreeable facade was pure mockery.

"Anger is harmful to the body, Uncle Lee. It's best if you don't act out of anger. I'm just a small fry to you anyway. I will never cause trouble for you." Jisung seemed to not care about whether he made him angry.,

It was a naked threat.

Minho had occasionally heard rumours about others getting bitten by the dogs they'd raised, and he found it so very laughable that the powerless boy he raised had betrayed him. He'd never expected that a day would come when this sort of thing would befall him too. Anger filled his chest in an instant, and he lost his usual cool. He glared at Jisung with vicious eyes.

Just then, the landline phone rang, interrupting their confrontation.

"What?" Minho's expression changed abruptly when he heard the name mentioned over the line. He'd never in a million years expected that his young Godfather, younger than himself was coming over to Korea.

Was it a coincidental trip back because he had something to do, or was it because of some background schemes by Jisung? What had let that man feel that something was not quite right, and decide to some knocking around in Korea?

He had let his guard down in the five years of interactions with Jisung. Minho could not recall offhand if he had left any blackmail material for him. He could not make any careless moves for now. Business came first after all, and he could deal with Jisung at any time. The important thing now was the problem with the accounting entries.

Minho was not afraid of an investigation into taxes, but he was afraid of this young Godfather's inspection. If the Godfather found out about these small schemes of his which he'd been running in Korea, the result would be unimaginable.

With that thought in mind, Minho could only tamp down his anger, point at Jisung and make a gesture of warning, and hang up.

\--------

On the other end of the line, Jisung was staring at the phone. He didn't move for quite a while.

Jisung knew that this advantage had been won only because Minho had not been prepared for it. He did not have enough chips to bargain with right now, he would have to prepare much more if he wanted to ruin everything.

Good thing that he did not have to worry for a month.

This was a live broadcast after all, and the public was watching. Minho wouldn't dare to do anything. He wouldn't be giving just a simple warning otherwise.

Jisung pondered his attack as he walked towards the group of directors to return the phone.

Another person stepped out of a shadowed corner after Jisung walked off. The person looked at Jisung's retreating figure but did not move for a long time. It was Felix.

Minho and Jisung's conversation from earlier had been too hushed for him to hear them clearly but he could see all of Jisung's expressions. He had seen Jisung act like he was him. That perfect imitation of himself had made Felix feel as if he had been looking in a mirror.

If it had been any other person, Felix was sure that he would be disgusted by this malicious imitation but this was Jisung. Jisung made Felix feel great sorrow and pity.

Jisung was so perfect that even that bit of indulgent provocation he'd thrown out after shrugging off his imitation of Felix was so damn likeable.

But a person such as Jisung had forced his true personality into hiding and transformed himself into another person, all to please Minho.

It was obvious that Minho had never been true to him, but he was still willing to abandon his pride and become a toy for him.

"Does he... love him that much?" murmured Felix. He gazed at Jisung with greater intensity. The look in his eyes gradually deepened into a strong desire to possess.

Felix knew that Jisung had done it on Minho's orders, but even so, there was no controlling the abnormal desire deep in his heart. The desire drove him ever closer to wanting to ravage, to possess, as time went on.

Minho considered such a dazzling person insignificant, but Felix wanted him. He wanted to hold him in cupped hands and hold him in his heart.

Felix's change in mentality only took a short time. The shooting for "Swapping Lives" went on, and nobody else knew the secret in his heart.

The youngsters had all surrendered Jisung after the money-earning event.

Jisung stayed the same, arrogant as ever, but the way people saw him was different now. The netizens saw his arrogance as nervousness due to his inability to express himself, and they found this adorable. As for the youths who knew of the finer details, their hearts hurt more for him, and they trusted him more.

Watching him play the role in the script so resolutely made them feel that he was especially reliable. Seungmin, who had initially looked down on Jisung, in particular, was even going close to Jisung on purpose to let himself get verbally abused. He was definitely a low-key masochist. Seungmin could not be at ease if he missed one day of Jisung's scolding.

As for Felix, he had simply become a good younger brother with a brother complex. He took care of Jisung by applying the medication and bathing. He would carry Jisung on his back everywhere he went if he could.

Jisung was not uncomfortable at all. He liked teasing pretty children after all. Felix was just the type he liked. Plus, Seungmin and the other youngsters were all quite protective of him now. Jisung simply went along with all of it and cooperated with the pampering.

The fans shipping on the internet were in even more active, and support for the Jilix pairing strengthened. They wrote fan-fictions to fulfil the pervy desires. 

However, this seemingly calm life was just the calm before the storm.

As the first participants in the fourth season to have successfully passed the second round, Jisung and his group were going to be faced with the greatest challenge. They had established themselves, so it was now time to prove themselves. According to the flow of the programme, the task now was for Jisung and his comrades to build their empire. They were to earn 1200 in a month.

More importantly, there was a condition they had to work around. Jisung was not allowed to make money by selling his craftwork or making clothes this time. They also couldn't use their influence.

"Hahaha! They're driving them to their end, eh!"

"Ouch. It's the end. This rubbish production crew! They're totally gonna die now."

Comments flashed excitedly across the chat screen.

"This is too much!"

"Yeah! You're not even letting us use our influence or good looks. What, you mean we have to cover our faces when we go out now?"

One of the girls pulled no punches with her words, and she gave everyone a brief summary of all the unreasonable things the directors had done from the start of the broadcast to their present time.

"No more! Filming is over! Let's all go home." Seungmin said.

The youngsters all rejected at that. They had gone through a lot after all, and they had matured quite a bit. They are not gonna give up now. Most importantly, they had Jisung at the core of their group now. They felt like they could do anything.

"Our Sungie can do anything! What do we do now?" Seungmin asked

Jisung looked helplessly at Seungmin. He felt like knocking this useless little guy on the head.

Jisung could not be bothered to take notice of him. He turned around to walk back to the room. "I have no clue. I'm tired. I'm going to lie down for a bit."

Seungmin stood in the middle of the yard, his heart had been shattered. The others in his group had no sympathy, even laughed teasingly at him. Felix finally had enough of their chatter and signalled them to be quieter before he went into the building himself to look for Jisung.

Felix entered the room to find that Jisung was laying on his bed, eyes shut.

As soon as Felix saw that Jisung was comfortable, he picked up the blanket from the side, and gently covered Jisung with it as he lowered the bamboo curtain over the window.

The corners of Felix's lips couldn't help but curl up in a smile as he watched Jisung sleep comfortably, and there was even a smile of delight in his eyes. The atmosphere in the room turned warm right away.

The chat screen of the main live broadcast immediately exploded with comments.

"Aaaaah! What a VIEW! Yongbokie definitely has a brother complex! Look how happy he is watching Sungie sleep!"

"A 10,000-word description of their sweet daily life popped up in my brain in an instant. My brain tells me that there's going to be new fanfic soon."

Many people were excited by this scene, and comment after comment flashed past on the chat screen.

Right then, Jisung reached out to Felix and pulled his arm. "That's enough. You're not sleepy even though you were sleepless in the morning? Stop working. Sit and rest."

"Mm." Felix sat obediently. Right after sitting, however, he seemed to find the sunlight too bright, and he shifted to block it so that Jisung would not be hit directly by it and be able to sleep better.

'It should be illegal for him to be such a good boy' Jisung sighed.

"Getting 1200 pounds is actually going to be quite difficult. We have just 20 days left." Jisung said. What Jisung did not say was that he had an idea, but he was not sure if it would work.

However, Felix seemed to pick up on his thought, and he said quietly, "We can try if you think it's possible."

"What if it fails?"

"It doesn't matter. I will do my best to shoulder it and I won't let you suffer for the failure." Felix said sincerely.

It was no wonder that even scum like Minho would not stop thinking about him. Jisung's heart softened with him looking at him like that. After a long pause, he asked, "You trust me so much? Aren't you afraid that something would go wrong?"

"I'm not. You won't lie to me." Felix said.

'Daaaaaamn'Jisung thought and subconsciously moved his hand to cover his eyes. Felix was no joke. In a few years when he's all grown up, he'd probably be able to melt rocks with a few gentle sweet nothings.

However, his subconscious act of avoidance gave Felix some secret joy. He was also quietly hoping that Jisung would waver and eventually forget about that scummy Minho completely and let him replace him.

Jisung and Felix's conversation was short. Time was limited after all, so after a short while, Jisung got Felix to call the others over and give them a rough outline of his idea.

The youngsters were excited by this. As for the directors, they were shocked beyond words when they heard Jisung's plan. They started to have doubts.

A guesthouse.

In this challenge to prove themselves as entrepreneurs, Jisung was actually going to develop a guesthouse. They were going to welcome travellers from far and wide.

The questions soon followed. Sure, they could open up a guesthouse, but how? They don't have any rooms and they only had less than 170 ponds left on them.

Jisung had answers for the directors' question straight away. "How do we not have rooms? This inn we're in now is very suitable for our needs!"

Everyone stared at Jisung. They couldn't seem to believe their ears.

The inn they were in now, a guesthouse? It looked like a house of danger from the outside, and they only had straw beds on the inside.

The netizens watching the live broadcast were all stunned.

"OMG, is Sungie trying to scare me to death? They only have over 110 pounds. That's not even enough to decorate the house!"

"There isn't time for it either. They'll need a month, at least."

"Oh, my heart is weary. I really want to go over there and shake sense into Jisung. Stop dreaming! Think of something more realistic!"

Everyone felt that something like this was surely impossible. What they never expected was that Felix and the others actually all chose to support the idea after they got over their initial shock.

To them, Jisung was a person who had managed to earn the money to support all of them in a few hours. If he said that he wanted to open up a guesthouse, then he definitely will be able to do it!

They did not even want to waste a minute more. A plan was made, and they got busy.

Jisung really did take them to buy the materials needed to renovate the building, and he even hired some of the housewives of the village. They took two little girls with them, and they practiced weaving and making fabric flowers. The boys changed their clothes and painted the walls according to what Jisung had planned.

The first day passed just like that. There were not many changes.

On the second day, additional simple wooden shelves appeared in the yard. Seungmin had made these with great effort, following what Jisung had drawn on paper. The shelves were steady enough, but they were tragically ugly.

Holes of varying depths appeared in the yard on the third day.

It was clean before they'd started on renovating.

Quite a few people were feeling anxious for them.

On the fifth day, when they stopped work for the night, everyone thought that they were surely not going to be able hang on any longer.

At 10 o'clock in the evening, the two girls were guided off to sleep by Jisung. The only ones who were still up and working were Seungmin, Felix and Jisung.

"Jisung hyung, does this look okay to you?" asked Seungmin with his head tilted to one side. He was so sleepy.

He made Jisung smile, and he patted his head. "It's good. I'll finish up the rest of it. You go sleep."

"No." Seungmin was stubborn. "I'll go wash my face. I'm not too tired."

"No, you won't. Be good and Go to bed."

"Mm..." Seungmin said and went to sleep.

Just Jisung and Felix were left working in the yard now. For some reason though, Felix, who had been working hard earlier, was now distracted. His eyes kept going to Jisung's hand.

Jisung didn't understand at first. After he'd urged Seungmin into going to bed, he understood. Felix was jealous.

'How could he be so cute!' Jisung thought.

"Don't worry, we'll be able to finish it. Come, give me a smile." Jisung said teasingly.

"I'm not worried." Felix could tell that Jisung was teasing him, and he turned his head away while giving him a grumpy answer.

He was really really grumpy, but he was quite attractive like that too.

Jisung put down his work, and pulled Felix into his arms from behind. "What, are you jealous because I was nice to Seungmin?"

Felix said nothing, but he did not refuse him. His ears were all red.

"How are you going to find a partner later when you're so pure and innocent? You won't even be able to open your mouth to confess." Jisung couldn't help pinching Felix's cheek as he teased him.

Felix's face got even redder. "My hair feels much better than Seungmin's". Felix said turning around.

'So he WAS jealous, huh?' Jisung thought.

"Geeze, you're so soft. Be careful, or you'll get bullied by your partner in the future." Jisung touched his hair ever more gently.

'It's fine if I get bullied by you' Felix smiled at that thought.

There was still a lot of work to be done, so Felix and Jisung soon returned to their work after their short intimate moment. Come four in the morning, the others woke up too and came to help with the work.

These were likely the most difficult days for them. When they finally put together all of the things they had been working on the past few days, piece by piece, all of them felt like they are going to collapse from tiredness.

It was six in the morning. The directors came over at eight in the morning and they were stunned by what they saw before them when they pushed open the door to the yard. The netizens who had been waiting to watch the live broadcast were all amazed. They could not even dare to believe what they were seeing.

It was just too beautiful. This wasn't a renovation, but a building given new life.

All of the furniture was made from woven straw and rattan, and there were no big or complicated patterns on them, but the deep shades of the colours of nature made for a natural pattern. It was also quite refined and artistic.

City people led busy lifestyles in modern society, so one could assume that their most desired lifestyle was that of pleasant countryside life. The inn which Jisung had renovated definitely fit the bill as a wonderful representation of pleasant countryside life.

The watching netizens who were in home design industry were surprised. They were starting to wonder if the production crew had hired some outside help for Jisung and his group. How else could they have pulled off such a personalised style of a renovation?

The programme producers then showed the design plans to everyone, and they were shocked. All of it had been designed by Jisung.

"OMFG. He's too freaking talented!"

"I really wanna know where the programme people found Sungie. No wonder they gave him so many restrictions before. He's already so good with all these limiters in place.

The viewers of the main broadcast were already shocked, but a new wave of shock him them five minutes later.

The price Jisung proposed for a night's stay at the guesthouse was so exorbitant that it robbed them of speech.

111 pounds a night.

This was way too much! Sure, Jisung had indeed renovated the inn very prettily, and it was quite fascinating, but there was no facilities nearby The access to a shower and a toilet was also quite difficult.

The place was like this, and Jisung was asking for a hundred a night? Nobody would actually want to go over.

Hours passed, and the landline which the production crew had set up stayed silent. It was not till evening that the quiet was broken by their first visitor.

However, this tour was not here for a simple holiday. She had come for Felix.

She was actually the president of Felix's fan club.

"Guys, does this count as using our influence, or not?" Seungmin was a little gloomy after he hung up the phone.

Jisung didn't think it mattered. What mattered was that business had come. They only needed this opportunity to start things up.

Jisung calculated the time that the fan club president would take to arrive and quickly assigned tasks to Felix and his group.

They were busy preparing to welcome their first guest. However, a small problem occurred on the fan club president's end.

She was not coming alone but with her male childhood friend. The two of them had set out on their trip in relative harmony which lasted till they came to the small county town. They abruptly had a fight.

Transport in the small county town was much worse than what they'd seen on the live broadcast. No one expected that there would only be a tractor to pick up and drop off passengers from the county town to the village where Jisung and the others were. What was even worse was that this tractor came just once every three hours.

The pair were used to air-conditioned rooms in the big city, so it was quite unbearable for them to wait under the hot sun. The fan club president's childhood friend was a naggy one too, and he got more and more worked up as he talked. He was sure that the fan club president had been bewitched by Felix. Why else would she spend a hundred pounds a night to come way out to a place like this in the countryside?

The fan club president had a temper too, and she shot back with, "Just leave if you don't want to come with me! I'll transfer you the money for the ticket back if you don't want to come." And so they fought.

"So you're going to split up with me over an idol?"

"I can understand if you don't like him, but can you stop with the insults? Plus, you were the one who insisted on coming along in the first place. I didn't force you to come."

"You think I want to come here? If it wasn't because of..." The childhood friend was pissed off and almost let it slip, but he quickly swallowed the rest of his sentence. Still, the fan club president immediately knew his reason for coming with her.

Her childhood friend worked as a reporter for a gossip magazine. It could very well be a work trip for him and not a holiday.

So was she being used by him. The fan club president got angry. She slapped her childhood friend and shoved him away. What she had not foreseen, was that this outburst of hers had caused Jisung and Felix great trouble.

"Swapping Lives" was being broadcast in two ways. Other than the livestream broadcast, an episode with clips to summarise the week was aired every Saturday on a cable TV channel.

With the surprising existence of Jisung, the popularity and discussions about "Swapping Lives" were high on the charts. It was sitting quite solidly at the top in terms of ratings.

The individual livestreams, in particular, were very popular. Practically all purchases made to access an individual livestream was for Felix and Jisung. These two were making a neat sum for the programme.

It was impossible to have no hate when they have a lot of viewers. There had been some so-called professionals who, at the beginning of the broadcast, had left comments criticising the video of Jisung weaving straw even though they did not understand the art itself. 

These sort of people were few in number and they did not cause any great disturbance, but the winds changed once the news of the 100 pounds guesthouse spread.

The norm for guesthouses in Korea was about 10 pound a night. However, Jisung had opened his greedy mouth and asked for 100 a night. It was a bid to get money out of fans no matter how you looked at it. 

The fan club president's childhood friend had wanted to come with her because he was hoping to get something out of the show's popularity.

This childhood friend had not had a good scoop in a long time, and he was seizing the opportunity now to get one. He was not going to miss this chance.

Unfortunately, he could not keep a lid on his temper and he got left behind in the little county town. No matter. He was just about done with gathering dirt on the programme. There was no real need to go to the village to experience tough times. He could find some other way. Greed flashed across his face as he took out the pen recorder he had hidden in his clothes.

In the short span of an hour, a headline was published on the Twitter account of the gossip magazine where the childhood friend worked. The main topic was about the influence of idols on fans. It talked about Jisung and Felix's guesthouse.

This childhood friend had uploaded a recording of his argument with the fan club president and painted her as a person who was blinded by her obsession with an actor.

He also very cunningly took screenshots of the criticisms of Jisung, describing him as vulgar nonsense to please the crowds, and added those to the summary. He even hinted that the inn that Jisung and the others were staying in was a risk. One, they had no license to run this business, and two, they had no guarantee of safety. Just what were they planning to do, duping a young woman into going there. 

This childhood friend had also put in his all to have his headline out there. He bought a "hot search" spot. Jisung's guesthouse was going to go up in flames.

The focus of the nation was on internet media these days, and those cases of television personalities cheating people out of their money were real cases. Major fan support groups even raise funds to show support for their preferred celebrity, and this resulted in there being a difference in financial support for individuals, even within a group.

Many soon took notice of this headline, and discussions started up.

"The entertainment circles are just too messy. These celebrities already get quite a bit from commercials! How can they be so unscrupulous."

"It's the same for online celebrities. I've heard of the guy mentioned in the article. Damn it, the adults work so hard to earn all that money and the foolish little children go and send it all to him. He even refused to refund it, saying it's a legitimate source of income. He's heartless." 

Discussions like these started up here and there, and whether it was on purpose or by accident, all of these bad feelings about the state of things were then turned on Jisung and Felix in the short span of two hours. There were even people implying that they were breaking the law and making illegal profit.

Things were really bad now.

However, the production crew was still in the village right then and up to their ears in work. They could not respond to the public relations crisis immediately. This delay, in turn, resulted in the situation getting to a level where there was no going back.

Some youngster on the net with extreme nationalistic tendencies actually reported this to the police, accusing the production crew of cheating consumers and carrying out illegal business. As the main sponsor behind "Swapping Lives", Minho was contacted by the higher-ups right away, requesting that he cooperate with investigations into the matter.

\--------

A cold young man sat in Minho's office, listening to Minho give him a report.

He was obviously younger than Minho, but his aura of power was so great it easily crushed Minho, and made him feel dread.

Still, the young man did not look strict at all. He was so handsome it was unreal.

"The situation is like this. Have a look, Godfather..." Minho stood respectfully by his side, and bent at the waist to hand the document folder to the young man with both hands. Minho was truly afraid of him. Though he knew that he was younger than him, he still respectfully addressed him as 'Godfather' and did not dare to show him any disrespect.

The situation right then was making him break down inside. Minho had quickly cleaned up all the accounts when he had heard that the young man was coming. He'd planned on presenting a good image of himself but ended up greeting him with the news that the company was facing a lawsuit.

And Jisung, of all things, was the cause of the guesthouse issue. Everyone knew that Jisung was his kept pet.

"It is all my fault for not training him well." Minho said.

However, the young man shook his head, indicating that he need not explain things. He silently turned on the computer and casually scrolled through the internet discussions. The young man then shook his head in disappointment.

Whatever the cause was, it was obvious that someone was fanning the flames of this fire when one observed the trends on the internet. "Swapping Lives" was a popular variety show, so how could it be bombarded so collectively by so much negativity with no room to fight back?

Minho had not done any emergency public relations actions right away, but pushed the blame onto a young man of 17 or 18 instead. What a moron.

#Let's talk about the alternative ways celebrities collect money. A house of danger being touted as a guesthouse for 100 pounds a night' was trending.

The young man's gaze grew increasingly darker as he read the brainless scolding and insults on Twitter and the major internet gossip forums, but the expression on his face remained unchanged.

Minho was standing next to him, so he could see everything on the screen clearly too. His fear of the young man grew with every beat of his heart.

They had not seen each other in two years. This Godfather of his was even more mysterious now.

But the young man did not seem to sense his fear. He casually clicked, and gained access to the livestream of "Swapping Lives". Felix's fan club president was almost to the inn, and the chat screen was full of slanderous comments throwing brainless insults around.

He turned off the chat screen and looked closely at the screen for a bit, then suddenly asked Minho a question. "Which one of these two is Jisung?"

"He's the one standing and talking." Minho kept his head down.

Fortunately, the young man's attention soon went to the live broadcast, away from Minho.

The screen showed Jisung lying on a sofa. He was just watching and making casual remarks, and the others marched to his orders. Felix and Seungmin stayed constantly by his side.

A scene like those would normally draw tons of blame, but this was Jisung.

Only Felix was doing good work. The others were not really reliable, they were enthusiastic. They kept making mistakes and were pretty much useless.

Jisung finally could not take it anymore and put his glass down. He stood up and walked a circle around the yard and said in disgust, "Move aside!"

"You're so stupid!"

"Put that down! I'll do it!"

And he took their work into his own hands.

The youngsters who had been scolded were not angry at all. Instead, they drew close to his side with smiling faces, and called him "Brother Sung" very intimately. People who did not know about their relationships would have thought that they were actual siblings.

The young man saw all of this, and a rare show of amusement appeared in his eyes.

His attention had been captured by Jisung the moment he had accessed the livestream. It was not just because of Jisung's above average looks and personality, but his easy skill in doing things.

The way he teased these youngsters, and the indulgence which leaked out once in a while, coupled with the attitude of someone who had everything under control. This was obviously because he had some hidden trump card and insider information to back his confidence up. How was this the behaviour of a plaything?

Based on what he saw, the young man could confirm that this guesthouse of Jisung's was not as simple as it seemed. There must be some secret hidden behind it. Those people slinging insults at Jisung on the Chat screen now were likely going to regret later.

At that thought, he spoke to Minho again. "You're very stupid, but you have a good eye. It's unfortunate that this Jisung is so blind."

'So did this mean that Jisung was blind for loving him?' Minho's eyes widened. He felt quite sick.

That damned boy was a pet he had picked up randomly to play around with. If it hadn't been for him back then, Jisung would have been forced out of his home by his relatives and made to roam the streets. He could have ended up digging through garbage for food. It was him who had helped Jisung get his house back. It was him who had hired tutors to teach him etiquette, given him knowledge, and him who had raised him to be who he was today. And now this young man here had evaluated Jisung and said that he had been lucky to meet Jisung? And that Jisung had been blind to fall in love with him?

Great humiliation and embarrassment turned Minho's expression sour instantly. However, the young man was a person who meant just what he said. Minho had no power to retort.

\--------

Felix's fan club president got out of her transport and was stunned by what met her eyes.

The peaceful village had beautiful scenery and honest countryside charm. The cosiness which she saw was all real, and not fake at all. Jisung had his group had also changed into special clothing to welcome their first guest.

They were wearing traditional Korean clothing.

The clothing complemented the skin of the young men and women, and the sight of them standing in a row in the yard to welcome their guest was quite a beautiful sight indeed.

As for the building, it had been renovated to become quite comfortable. For a house like this, it was pure enjoyment.

The events later, which Seungmin and the others had prepared with great care, were even more interesting. Seungmin and the youngsters brought the fan club president to the water to catch fish, and to the fields to pick vegetables.

What they had collected were all ingredients for dinner that night. Jisung's guesthouse had no set menu, you had to collect ingredients for the dishes you wanted to eat.

Summer days were always longer, so the sun had not set at six. A small column of smoke rose from the little chimney of the cooking stove. Cheer and laughter filled the Inn. The final pleasant dish was served. The natural fresh sweetness of the dish had no need of any complicated food processing to conquer a person's taste buds.

After the meal was rest time, and the just-gathered in the yard and cherries picked from the backyard were the best things to snack on.

These fruits were just the most basic of snacks. What Jisung had designed was an astounding simulation of a lifestyle. You could enjoy your whole day as a person dressed in ancient traditional clothing if you wanted, and living like one too. Even the clothing was readily available.

In the words of Jisung's fans, he was an endless treasure. You'd never know just how truly amazing the breadth of his talents were.

"This place is awesome!" The fan club president stood on the footpath between paddy fields with her camera in hand, enjoying all that she saw and experienced. She felt like everything she had experience so far was deeply engrossing.

The netizens watching the live broadcast, too, were of similar mind.

"It is so pretty! 100 is totally worth it."

"Yeah! Just the traditional clothing and accessories alone are quite worth it. I heard them say that you can take this set of clothing home with you after your stay, right? Custom-made traditional clothing like this is which is not for the show is worth hundreds."

"The food is good too. Did you see the dishes they had last night? That there is the true village flavour! Watching that made me drool."

As time went on, more and more netizens were drawn to the guesthouse Jisung designed.

It wasn't just the fan club president whose eyes bugged in awe, even the people watching the livestream were entirely immersed in it. The people throwing out insults too, could not find a negative word to say when they saw that. What's more, the people who had been wavering over their decision made plans to have a holiday where they could just pack and go.

Oh, to leave the hustle and bustle of the city, to forget the pressures of relationships and life, to cross mountains and rivers to come to this village and soak in a day of leisure.

Living like this was a true holiday after all, and something people longed for.

Now, the line was not quiet when the production crew put up their contact number again. The phone was ringing off the hook in just a few minutes. Seungmin, who was in charge of handling calls, was up to his ears in work. Jisung finally took over and stated that they were only going to take ten guests in total, and that he would accept the top ten.

A piece of bad news hit them out of the blue just when they were ready to decide on who the next guest would be.

The head office governing internet activities had issued an order to ask that "Swapping Lives" stop their broadcast and reform the programme immediately. As for the reason, it was, of course, involving the problems due to the actions of celebrities and the illegal operation of a guesthouse.

As the viewers stared at what was happening on their screens, the production crew had not even had time to shut off the livestream when the local policemen came to their door.

"Hello. We have some questions about a situation which we need a Jisung and a Felix to clarify."

"What is going on here?" The fans watching the live broadcast of "Swapping Lives" were shocked at the arrival of the police.

Felix, Seungmin and the others were also shocked by this development and had no idea how to react.

"Has there been some sort of misunderstanding? This is filming for a TV programme." The fan club president tried to put forth an explanation. Seungmin and Felix moved forward at the same time and put Jisung behind them protectively.

They spoke gently, explaining that they were here on official business and that there was no problem, that they would not trouble everyone.

They had mainly come over for two matters: the legality of the business, and the safety of the property. There had been a big fuss kicked up over this after all, and it had not just been one or two people over the internet who had reported this.

"I understand. I am the person who came up with the plan for this guesthouse. You can ask me your questions." Jisung stepped forward. He then called Felix to come with him while he brought the police and the inspection experts into the Inn to get evidence.

This was the first time a turning point like this happened in the middle of an internet variety show programme. Right then, the main broadcast of the "Swapping Lives" was being flooded by the netizens who had caught wind of it. Those people slinging insults about on the internet followed, hoping to see how Jisung and the production crew were going to be humiliated.

Unfortunately for them, they had nothing to rejoice over. Instead, they were humiliated by what happened.

Contrary to expectations, this dangerous-looking Inn the production crew had procured was actually very safe indeed, it had a safety guarantee

As for the shabby-looking furniture, each piece had its own unique characteristics. The point was, that unlike regular home furnishing, these pieces of furniture were free of the usual problems because of the materials Jisung used.

Plus, those dyes used to dye the clothes were not artificial dyes either, but extracted from all-natural plants.

As for the question of whether the price was fair, Jisung produced a list. The 100 pounds price listed was the all-inclusive price for the entire Inn.

No matter how many people you brought to the guesthouse, they would be housed so long as there were rooms for them. Three meals a day were also included in this price, and the stove was kept at the ready all day so that you could have a meal prepared at any time you wanted.

There was a 24-hour fruit and dessert service, and the fruit juice was all freshly squeezed. The tea was all-authentic, fresh wild-grown tea.

Additionally, there was no high-level tech here, but there was still lots of entertainment.

The hills and streams behind the Inn were a natural amusement park. When dressed in traditional clothing, it made you completely immersed in the atmosphere and it was just like you had been brought back a thousand years into the past.

"I think... A thousand is really not expensive at all. This entire Inn is being rented out at 100 a day, so if you go in a group of three, each person would only have to pay over 33 pounds. And the atmosphere of the place, plus the service... It's like heaven."

"Yeah! In all fairness, I want to go too. I wonder if I can still put my name down for it with all this fuss happening."

"So what? They're conducting illegal business."

"Those youngsters started doing this for the show. They just need the audience to cooperate with them."

"Sure, cooperate. It's so damn far away and the guesthouse has no easy transport. Is the production crew going to take responsibility if something goes wrong?"

Arguments started up again.

People who stepped forward to defend Jisung and Felix were branded as brainless, brainwashed fans. Pictures from the livestream were also analysed by so-called "tech experts", who said that it was so beautiful only because of filters. They said that people would see filth and ugliness if the filters were removed.

However, these were all just temporary. On the livestream screen, Jisung went into his room and brought out a small box. He opened the box and everyone was speechless.

He actually had a licence for this! And this sort of permit was not something that Jisung or the other youngsters could apply for under their own names. It had to be done by the owner of the property.

What was even more outrageous was that even the housewives who were preparing food for them had health and hygiene certification. The vegetables they used, too, were all certified as organic, pesticide-free produce.

"How's this possible?" Everyone was gobsmacked.

"There's no way! I watched their live broadcast. It's only been five, six days since they said they would start a guesthouse and worked on setting it up. Also, licences would normally take at least a month, even through the most direct processes. How did they do it?"

The relevant evidence was soon made public speechless again.

The business licence was real. It was as if it had all been arranged in advance, even before the programme started broadcasting. The relevant licence number was made public, and anyone could go to the relevant government website to check its authenticity.

"H, how... Why?" The haters were speechless.

The production crew took that opportunity to explain things, and it had to do with the history of this county town and the village. The owner of this place had gotten the licence for operating a guesthouse when Korea established a set of standards for guesthouses because this is where ancient hero's lived. Unfortunately, this place was not well known nor successful due to its remote location.

Jisung, the person who came up with the plan of running a guesthouse, faced the main broadcast camera and explained his thought process. "It is better to teach a man how to fish than give him fish. This programme is titled "Swapping Lives". Is it just a simple change in environment to experience another walk of life? Why not expand this concept and change the fate of this village too? All good things are worthy of praise after all."

The entire livestream fell silent. All the netizens who heard him were in awe. These words of Jisung were quickly made into a clip and uploaded to the internet.

The people on the forums who had been slinging insults everywhere and saying the production crew was just acting all fell silent.

"I think all those people spewing insults should apologise to Jisung."

"Narrow-minded people can only see darkness in their blindness. I just hope that people will remember to take their brains along the next time they decide to ride some hate wave."

"Pfft. As if they would realise that they were wrong. They're standing on the side of 'truth' and 'justice' after all. They were just afraid of everyone else getting scammed!"

"Heh. A bunch of so-called mature adults. They're just moving their fingers and hiding behind their screens while letting their malicious thoughts loose on the good intentions of others. They're evaluating the situation with ill intent and passing judgement on everything. Compared to Sungie, these guys are the real losers."

The fans of "Swapping Lives", who had been pressed into silence, finally found their chance to fight back.

\--------

Minho was shocked by the development in the situation. He had heard from many of Jisung's tutors that he was very clever, but he had no idea of the degree of his cleverness, and how capable he was till this day.

'Did Jisung already know about this village, or was it a coincidence?' Minho could not wrap his head around it. He finally decided to classify this as a coincidence.

However, the eyes of the young man next to him grew even more distant, and cold. He had known that Minho was stupid, but he had not expected that Minho would become stupider than he was two years ago.

Jisung's idea to run a guesthouse had been planned. It was not a coincidence. He had been careful when he was modifying the house, and had not changed the layout of the place. He had only put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, and kept everything else as it was. This was proof that Jisung knew that this place had a history, and was a remnant of the past. And when the policemen had requested an inspection, he had been calm. That response proved his confidence in the plan.

'So just what did a person like Jisung see in a man like Minho? It couldn't be that he wanted to get himself a moron to balance himself out because he was so smart, could it?' The young man frowned.

He stood up and walked to the doorway, and motioned for Minho not to follow him. He called his own assistant over and gave an order. "Go investigate those paid posters who were trying to guide the public opinion to a negative slant, and the gossip magazines which started these rumours too. Notify the legal department when you've found the perpetrators and tell them to follow official procedures. If others can report this to the police and to the authorities governing internet activities, then we cannot just stand still and let them hit us." He left with his men.

Minho grew even more anxious. He felt that that last look that the young man had given him had some disgust hidden in it.

\--------

The programme, "Swapping Lives" was trending once again. It was well and truly the number one variety show of the people now. The village where it was being filmed shot to fame too, and there was no doubt that future developments in this place would go smoothly thanks to this.

As for Jisung, Felix, and the youngsters, they had also become a hot topic on the internet.

The number of people watching the livestream had hit the scary number of ten million on the day before the official end of the programme broadcast.

The production crew were also very excited by the results. They made the first exception in all four seasons of the programme and gave the youngsters a reward.

The production crew provided them with a mobile phone and allowed them the opportunity to contact their families. Each person had five minutes.

Even Seungmin was a little excited by this.

They had been away from their families for a month and a half. They had suffered, been wronged, and had been only able to rely on each other for comfort.

"Let Brother Sung make the first call," suggested one of the girls. Jisung had expanded the most energy on the programme since it aired, taking care of them and earning money while at it. They had not even had the time to have a good meal in the beginning. If it had not been for Jisung, Felix and his group would probably not be able to bear a single day. The girl's suggestion was met with approval as soon as she spoke of it.

Jisung, on the other hand, had no intention of making any calls.

"Go on, Brother Sung!" The other girl thought that Jisung was embarrassed to make the first call, so she moved in close and shoved the phone in his hand.

"Don't be embarrassed, Brother Sung. You must miss your parents very much after spending so much time away from them. Quick, give Auntie and Uncle a call. It will be easier for us to make our calls if you go first. You have worked really hard to take care of us this past month and a half."

The three of them all looked expectantly at Jisung but he did not budge.

Seungmin, who knew some insider information, stopped smiling right away and grew pale. Felix's heart sank.

Jisung's parents were long dead, and even the house he had worked so hard to keep had been half burnt away days ago. Just who was he going to make this call to?

"Stop bothering Brother Sung about it. If you guys are itching to make your calls, then you can go first..." Seungmin anxiously stopped the three of them from saying more.

Felix also nervously drew close to Jisung like he was some fragile being, filled with worry. Even the directors reacted all of a sudden and they all looked at Jisung with a subtle expression in their eyes.

The joyous atmosphere in the room abruptly turned cold. The three people who had been telling Jisung to make the first call were at a loss.

Jisung's reaction was the opposite of what they'd expected. He was calm, as if he was not the focus of everyone's attention, and the expression on his face was almost unchanged.

"Sung..." called Seungmin.

Jisung raised his head to look at him without a word. He then tossed the phone to the girl next to him. "I'll give my time to you. This device is of terrible quality. I fear it would deafen me if I used it."

He turned around and left after saying that.

"You guys!" Seungmin was anxious and he moved to go after him.

"You explain it to them. I'll go see how he's doing." Felix stopped him.

"Sure. I'm bad with words so please be sure to talk to Hyung."

"I got it." Felix hurried.

Felix thought that Jisung would walk far, far away since he was in a bad mood, but he found him lying on the sofa in the yard right after walking out the door.

Jisung was looking up, like he was enjoying the view of the night sky. His beautiful eyes seemed to reflect the starlight, and even the quirk of his lips was gentle and contented. His guard on his display of emotions was so tight that it was impossible to tell if he was sad.

Felix's heart was choked up with anxiety.

"Aren't you going to call home? Not afraid of being beaten when you go back?" Jisung asked. He waited for a bit, and waved Felix over when he did not reply, gesturing for him to come sit with him.

Felix felt his heart ache.

Felix had asked his cousin about the results of his investigation into Jisung's background, so he knew a lot about him.

He knew that Jisung had lost his beloved parents six years ago, and also knew that Jisung had no family to call. The only one he could contact was Minho, calling him would be like throwing his sincerity to the ground for that scum to stomp on.

Felix pressed his lips together and reached out to yank Jisung into his embrace.

"Are you acting spoilt?" Jisung could not help teasing Felix at his sudden display of affection.

"Okay, okay, I won't tease you anymore. Why's a big boy like you crying so much that your nose is all drippy?"

Felix said nothing, but he tightened his arms around Jisung. It seemed as if he was hoping that this action of his would bring more comfort to Jisung, and ease his heart a little.

He actually knew that Jisung had no need of this empty show of backing him up since he was so capable, but Felix still hoped that he would be able to become a person who would be able to support Jisung.

But anyone could say such a thing just not him. Felix knew that Jisung was in such pain now largely because he had been groomed by Minho to become a substitute for him.

In other words, he was one of the people who had caused Jisung's pain. Even so, he had feelings for Jisung, and wanted nothing more than to hold him.

Felix put his head on Jisung's shoulder with those thoughts in his head. He did not speak for some time.

Jisung knew that Felix was in such agony because his heart hurt for him. This straightforward expression of emotion was also what Jisung was weak against.

Jisung sighed and relaxed. He let Felix hold him. His hands moved to Felix's back as he relaxed, and he hugged him gently.

\--------

On his end, Seungmin could not hold back anymore and he blurted out Jisung's situation.

"Hyung has no family he can call. His parents died in an accident six years ago," said Seungmin.

"What?" The two girls and the young man exclaimed reflexively.

They had known that Jisung was not a son of a wealthy family, but they had not even imagined that he would actually have no family.

After Seungmin spoke, they lowered their heads too, and their eyes immediately turned red with crying.

He would not have spoken on it if it hadn't been for the live broadcast.

But Seungmin was afraid that Jisung would be misunderstood by others. The incidents of the past had already proven the terrors of cyberbullying. He could totally envision Jisung making no move to talk about his tragic past with his pride and tendency to bear things silently. That, in turn, would mean that those haters would insult Jisung out of context before the end of the programme broadcasting, and say that it was useless no matter how capable he was if he did not respect his parents, and that he was absolute trash.

This was why Seungmin felt like he had to speak in Jisung's defence. It was Seungmin's first time to want to do his best to protect someone.

Jisung's past was revealed, just like that. The part about him being a kept toy was kept hidden, and all that was spoken of was that he had been living on his own ever since his parents passed away. He had participated in the programme for the pay.

The livestream chat was overflowing with comments right away.

"He was all on his own from junior high school? What a tough life he must've had!"

"So that must be why he has those weaving skills. It's probably to make money for his living expenses... No wonder Jisung was calm when they got to the county town when even Felix and Seungmin were panicking. Was it because he has been earning his own living from a young age?"

"But him participating in the programme to earn money is just too ridiculous. Just learning of this makes my heart ache for him. So many people were insulting him at the beginning of the fourth season of the programme!"

"My heart aches too."

Many people were saddened by Jisung's past. Meanwhile, whether intentional or not, there was a cameraman following Jisung and Felix, and he was hidden in the darkness.

Jisung dropped his mask of arrogance and gently calmed Felix down. He was not one bit weak, he exuded strength.

The hearts of many quivered at that. They all felt that Jisung was really so very encouraging.

The ratings for "Swapping Lives" climbed yet higher. Jisung and Felix's embracing under the moonlight also became this season's most tear-jerking scene.

Many were saying that the program can just end there because they will never find a participant like Jisung.

\--------

The filming for "Swapping Lives" ended the next morning in this mood. The production crew sent each of the youngsters back home to their families.

At the airport, the two girls and the other young man hugged Jisung, unwilling to let go. They could not bear to. They only let go reluctantly after Jisung promised to keep in contact with them.

After that, as arranged by the production crew, Felix, Seungmin and Jisung took the same flight back to Seoul.

They went in silence. Everyone's parting was near at the Seoul Airport. Seungmin was trying to hold himself back but he finally could not, and he grabbed Jisung's sleeve, refusing to let go.

"Come with me, Hyung." The Seungmin now was looking at Jisung with eyes full of affection, and heartache.

Jisung and Felix's "brother-like" coupling was currently one of the most popular on the internet. Everyone knew that they did not really have any relationship in real life, but even so, to Minho, this was similar to cheating on him.

The unrequited love he had had for years had actually been matched up with the substitute he had groomed. Minho had now become the laughingstock in the world of heirs of Seoul city.

Meanwhile, Seungmin was also finding out about the things Minho had done while the programme was being filmed. He also heard about how Minho had used the house which Jisung's parents had left him to threaten him and keep him under control.

Seungmin's heart grew heavier with worry. He felt that whatever evil this Minho scum did would come as no surprise, so he did not want to let Jisung return on his own, no matter what.

"Hyung, my family has influence in Seoul too. We are not as powerful as Minho, but we can still shield you. I will be going overseas at the end of the year too. You have good grades in school, Hyung, so it will be no problem for you to come with me when the time comes to leave."

"Don't make a fuss. I'm fine." Jisung rejected him.

"But..." Seungmin started to say something.

Jisung shook his head in refusal still.

The more he refused, the more worried Seungmin got. He had a sudden impulse to just throw himself over Jisung and hold him there.

"What's so great about that bastard Minho? Do you like him that much?"

The atmosphere around them became cold right away as soon as he uttered those words. Even Felix's gaze turned sharp.

"Hyung, I..." Seungmin knew that he had spoken out of turn too.

What he had said was the truth. He wanted nothing more than to spend every day by Jisung's side and not leave him, but Jisung loved that scum of a man, Minho.

Seungmin grew increasingly upset the more he thought about it, and his eyes reddened as tears kept falling.

"Don't cry...calm down, Seungmin. There are some things which can't be solved through making a fuss about it." Jisung took a tissue out and gave it to him.

"Then tell me how I can solve this. I like you, Hyung." Seungmin blurted out the truth he had held within him.

It was not just Jisung who was taken aback, Felix was shocked too. He eyes Seungmin oddly and frowned reflexively. What Jisung said in response next sent a chill across Felix's heart.

"I know. I like you too." Jisung spoke sincerely, like a good elder brother speaking indulgently to his younger brother.

He was warm to him, but his words still held rejection.

Felix understood that Jisung only saw Seungmin as a younger brother. No, it was not just Seungmin,him, too. Seungmin was no fool either, and he understood. He also understood that Jisung was saying this to help him avoid embarrassment. He could only hold Jisung's sleeve tighter and cry harder.

'He really was still a child!' Jisung shook his head and let him cry all he wanted. He waited for Seungmin to tire himself out with crying, then walked him over to the Kim family car which had come to pick Seungmin up.

He'd finally sent him off. Jisung let out a quiet breath of relief as he watched Seungmin leave. Soon, however, he was hugged from behind by another person. It was Felix.

Felix had grown a little taller since the last time.

"What's this? You want to cry over me too?" Jisung asked.

"I have some notices to give when I go back. Can I come look for you after I'm done with them?" Felix's voice was all gloomy.

"Sure." Jisung relaxed when he saw that he was calm.

Felix let him go reluctantly after about ten minutes, and watched as he got into the taxi to go home.

He returned to his private van when he lost sight of Jisung. His obedient self which he had shown Jisung earlier faded away, and a trace of indescribable depth ruined the usual warmth he had.

"What are your plans?" Felix's cousin was in the van, and he knew full well what his little cousin was like. He obviously had feelings for Jisung.

Jisung had offended Minho terribly. It was not a problem with the Seo family protecting him, but that backer of Minho's had returned to Korea recently.

They had no grasp of that person's temperament. If that man grew concerned about Minho's reputation, then Jisung would be in danger.

Felix also understood why his cousin was worried, but he did not care. He was definitely no match for the young Godfather backing Minho, but the Seo family was not useless like Minho, who had to rely on sucking up to another person to live.

The only thing Felix was worried about was the feelings Jisung had for Minho.

After all, how could a person like Jisung let scum like Minho step all over him if he did not love him deeply.

'But how was that trash of a human being, Minho, deserving of Jisung's deep love?' Felix thought. And an idea popped up in his head.

Felix felt that he had not enough power right now, and could only slowly plan things out.

His plan was to let Minho's constant schemes to cause pain for Jisung to ruin the love Jisung had for him till there would be nothing left. When that happened, that would be the best time for Felix to take his place.

\--------

Jisung had arrived home with his luggage. He had not even had time to clean up when he received a text message from a very familiar phone number.

Minho: Tomorrow night, nine. I'll wait for you in the ocean-blue suite on the top floor.

Jisung couldn't help raising his eyebrows. This place was where Minho always had someone to tutor the old Jisung. It was where he had gone for lessons, to learn how to be a better substitute, to learn how to be a plaything. And this time, it was probably because Minho wanted to give him a good lesson.

It was about time to go meet this "master" of his. He was going to cuckold his man after all.

Jisung opened his wardrobe slowly with that thought in mind, and started to pick his clothes carefully.

\--------

The next day, Minho was already waiting when Jisung arrived at the ocean-blue suite. He had a smile on his face, but he had the sinister glint in his eyes.

Based on how things normally went, some show of force was to be expected. However, Minho did not seem to have those sort of intentions.

Jisung did not understand it at first, but information from the old Jisung's memories soon surfaced in his head, and his eyes lit up. He remembered something about a very interesting.

This world was very strict about the protection of minors. Sexual relations with minors was absolutely not allowed. Jisung curved his lips up in a smile, and his gaze on Minho turned meaningful.

It was not like the last time, when they had talked over the phone. They were standing face-to-face now. Jisung observed Minho, and found to his surprise that Minho had quite a handsome face.

Minho had actually paused, staring blankly, when he saw Jisung. He found that Jisung had changed too much after being on the "Swapping Lives" programme.

The Jisung now gave Minho the feeling that he was not a simple substitute anymore. He had an added indescribable seductiveness to him.

If the old him was the substitute who was the best at imitating Felix, then the new him was just like another Felix. He was even more perfect than Felix. He matched perfectly with what Minho wanted in a lover.

But Minho snapped out of it immediately. At the same time, Jisung's calmness felt like a great mockery to him, and Minho felt that Jisung was playing with him.

He recalled that phone conversation he had with Jisung.

"You're getting bold, Sungie. You dare to come meet me like this."

Minho's words sounded gentle on the surface, but it held obvious hostility.

"You've been living well, Uncle Lee." Jisung smiled as he adjusted his voice to make it sound like Felix's.

"Don't play games," threatened Minho darkly.

"Why are you unhappy, Uncle Lee?"Jisung smiled happily, and his tone of voice was flirty.

"The Felix you've pined after is now right in front of you. Why are you angry? Or is it because you're jealous of me? You're jealous that Felix likes me, and embraces me. While we were filming, we even slept on the same bed. And he even wants to take me from your side."

"You!" Minho's chest was so full of anger he could not speak for a while.

"What, you're so embarrassed that you're mad? Why, though?" Jisung smiled all the more widely.

"You are a selfish piece of shit. Creating substitutes because you can't get what you want. Upright or lying down, you've been an absolute whore. Abandoning someone else when you're so dirty yourself? Isn't someone like me with my prices clearly marked for purchase most suitable for you?"

"Look, I can play whichever character you want so long as you are willing to spend the money for it. We are a match made in Heaven."

Jisung's slender fingers moved through the air and traced the side of Minho's face as he spoke. Every word coming out of his mouth was what a humble plaything would say, but the movement of his hand spoke of challenge and an aggressiveness.

This made Minho feel that Jisung was actually the master of this relationship. Minho was the one being teased and trained.

Minho was so mad that his breath caught in his chest, and he had trouble breathing. But the irony was, this dominant play of Jisung's had prompted a reaction from Minho.

Jisung saw his situation and laughed in a very exaggerated way. 

"It looks like your body is way more honest than your heart, Minho. Too bad for you, though. I'm still a minor so you won't get any sweet release from me. Now here's the problem, Minho. If you can't suppress your sexual desire, then I just have to call the emergency hotline to get to the police. It would take five minutes at most for the police to arrive and spend some quality time with you."

"Hah. Well played, Jisung." Minho smiled instead of getting angry.

According to the laws of Korea, this situation right now meant that he would definitely be arrested and taken away if Jisung reported him to the police.

The most troublesome thing, however, was that the young Godfather who was so difficult to deal with was still in Korea, and his Godfather was not pleased with him these days.

Minho could not afford to make any more mistakes right now.

As for Jisung, he would let him be for a few days. He had all the time in the world to punish him later.

With those thoughts in mind, Minho gave Jisung a glare in the end, and left him with a warning.

"You'll get what's coming to you."

\--------

Minho went straight to a bar after leaving the ocean-blue suite. He ordered two bottles of alcohol and angrily poured himself a glass.

The humiliating feeling of being played by Jisung did not go away. That last look in Jisung's eyes had stirred his secret desires.

Under the influence of alcohol, this desire gained heat, and he felt like he could not take it anymore.

Minho decided to vent his frustration.

He called one of his little lovers, and told him to meet him in his usual private room in the bar.

When the lover got there, Minho threw him on the bed without even letting him have a shower first. The foreplay was rough, and he went straight to it.

Minho seemed too anxious today. He usually looked for traces of Felix in his lovers, and, though it was an act, he was especially gentle with them.

But today, for some reason, Minho was searching for the face of another in the person below him as he fucked.

He called out Jisung's name in his moment of climax. In the next second, though, he was shocked by himself, and instantly calmed. He was spent, but still angry.

Jisung was just a plaything after all. How dare he play him. He did some calculations, and discovered that Jisung would not be a minor anymore in a month. Minho could wait. He would wait for Jisung to be of age, and he would then train him well and let him know down to his bones who the true master was!

He recalled the strength Jisung had kept hidden under his gentle obedience, and his deep desire were stirred up once again. Minho used his lover roughly that night. He sent his lover packing after he had his fun.

Minho's heartless fucking brought unexpected trouble to Jisung.

The lover Minho had called up that night was not a nice person. He'd had some unspoken expectations of Minho, and he had become increasingly jealous when he'd heard Minho call out Jisung's name several times while he played with his body.

He went to look up Jisung's identity when he got home, and discovered that Jisung was also a substitute who was being kept by Minho. What he found next made him feel like he had been treated even more unfairly when compared to Jisung.

Jisung was actually living in a villa. This Jisung had also been sent to participate in a reality show by Minho, and got famous from being on camera. He, on the other hand, had always wanted to break into the entertainment industry, but Minho had never given him the chance. He was a sort of internet celebrity right now, but he was nothing compared to Jisung's popularity.

And so, this little lover of Minho's grew increasingly convinced that Jisung was Minho's most favoured person.

This was unfair!

They were both playthings, so what right did Jisung have to Minho's heart? That Jisung was also very close with Felix, and they had even been put together as a celebrity couple. That group of mentally addled Felix fans had not insulted him, nor sought ways to ruin his life either.

In the beginning of his foray into the entertainment world, people had said that he was the Felix of the internet celebrities, and others had paired him up with Felix too but the pairing had been laughed at by Felix's fan club. They'd bully him.

Later, Minho had found out about it and punished him fiercely, and warned him not to make any moves beyond his station.

The lover shivered involuntarily when he recalled the punishment he'd gone through. He was even more sure now, that there was no reason for Jisung to have such favour.

His hotheaded anger led him to expose Jisung's identity on the internet in an impulsive act, saying that Jisung was actually a kept pet. 

Many people who saw the post blew the matter up.

"How's this possible? This must be nonsense! Sungie is not that sort of person."

"Yeah! And aren't Seungmin and Felix also from Seoul? Seungmin is a well-known person in the entertainment world too, so if Jisung really was a rent boy, how could Seungmin call him 'Hyung'?"

"Mm-hmm, do you guys also remember the reason Jisung participated in 'Swapping Lives'? It was for money. If he really was a kept pet, then what sort of lousy sponsor does he have, that his little lover has no money to buy food for himself?"

The popularity of "Swapping Lives" was still high, and attention on Jisung was still at its peak. The point was that Jisung had become a special, inspirational sort of existence in the eyes of these people, so not many people believed it when the scandal broke.

This hot topic soon faded out.

But Minho had seen it, and he did not want this wave to die so quickly. He thought that he would use this as a good opportunity to give Jisung a warning.

Truthfully, Minho now had a different view of Jisung. He did not want to destroy him immediately, but he would be happy to see Jisung suffering. He also wanted to see him come crawling to him when he had no other place to go.

Just like back then, with the house.

Minho thought of five years ago, when he had first met Jisung. Jisung had been in difficulty just as he'd started junior high school, and Minho had turned up when he had been left with no choice. Jisung had looked at him like he was a god when he had picked him up.

Minho felt that Jisung was in need of punishment. At that thought, an idea popped into his head, and he called his assistant over. Minho passed some things to his assistant and told him to use secret channels to hand those over to his internet celebrity lover.

"No need to bother about other things."

"Yes, sir." The assistant left and Minho started on estimating when Jisung would come to his door. 

Some data on Jisung suddenly arrived in Minho's internet celebrity lover's inbox. He was someone who knew the industry, and he knew who the sender was right away. Everyone in the entertainment circles knew that Jisung belonged to Minho, so who else would be able to gather so much detail, like how many lessons he'd attended, and all this information other than Minho?

The internet celebrity lover became more unrestrained with his actions. 'That's right! Jisung was just a plaything! How could Minho care so much about him?'

He revealed two more pieces of information on Jisung as he thought those thoughts. One was a picture of Jisung coming out of his ocean-blue gilded cage, and another was a picture of his villa.

It was not a big thing for rich people to have a little kept lover in this era, but if that photograph was real, it meant that Jisung had been a kept pet since he'd been in junior high. And it looked like he had been very obviously willing.

Things blew up.

Jisung's fans, and the casual supporters who'd taken notice of him before, could not believe their eyes. The further they tried to verify it, though, the stranger things seemed.

The casual fans who loved gossip also brought out screenshots of Jisung from the time he had appeared on "Swapping Lives" as proof. Those crafting skills of Jisung's. indigo dyeing, basket weaving, straw weaving, and even some basic interior design. Any one of those skills cost a lot of money to learn, but Jisung was able to earn money for himself using these skills. Where had he learnt them from? And who would burn cash to let him learn all these?

The ferocity of the comments on the internet increased. Minho's internet celebrity lover wanted to blow the matter up further, and thought of a way to pull certain people into it. These people hated Jisung to the core, and wanted nothing more than for him to disappear immediately. These people were the trash relatives of Jisung who had tried to forcibly take his villa from him.

# Shocking news! "Swapping Lives" star Jisung is actually an ungrateful swine! #

When that headline came out, a lot of the people who clicked on it felt that their view of the boy had been turned upside down.

The scummy relatives of Jisung had twisted the facts. Their seizing of his property turned into an offer to manage his assets. They had done this to ruin his reputation. They said that they had brought Jisung into their homes right after his parents' funeral, and gave him the best they could. However, they had too many children in the house and could not take care of their needs all the time, so Jisung had been angry about it and said he could not put up with it. He had run away on his own and gotten himself a sponsor in rebellion.

They even said that the house Jisung had now had been snatched from them.

Jisung's public image was completely torn apart when that was "revealed".

It was like that on the internet. If you relied on a public persona to get popular, you would become a laughingstock once this public persona falls. Those who'd chased after this public image they liked would also think that they had been duped, and be disgusted by you.

"The world is wide and full of wonders. Man, I used to like this Jisung too and I thought he was really inspirational. Now that I look at it, I can only say that I've been laughably stupid."

"I'm really disgusted. I had a huge fight with my bestie over this when the news first came out. Oh, my weary heart. I won't believe things on the internet again."

"I don't care. I believe in Sungie. Sungie is awesome! They must be spreading lies. I will stand on Sungie's side forever unless I see real proof!"

Waves of discussion swept the internet. The youngsters who had participated in the "Swapping Lives" programme could not hold themselves back any longer.

Seungmin was the first of the youngsters to make a stand. He used his own ID to reply to comments, and went straight into fighting with the netizens.

"What for?" Jisung was at home, listening to Seungmin nag about unfairness over the phone. He was helpless too. He was the one being insulted on the internet, but Seungmin was more anxious about it than himself.

"I'm not a celebrity and I won't have to rely on fame to earn a living. There's no need for me to fight them. It will all be fine once it passes." Jisung tried to calm Seungmin.

"No way! How can you let yourself be bullied? Hyung, it's okay if you don't want to come home with me and it's fine if you like someone else, but don't let yourself be wronged like this. It hurts me to watch..." Seungmin's voice got all choked up as he spoke.

"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you." Jisung was at a bit of a loss when he saw Seungmin like this, but he did not object to Seungmin speaking up for him in the end. He let him make all the fuss he wanted. Jisung actually had an idea for these actions of Minho's lover, but he had not made his move because the time was just not yet right to launch it.

On his end, Seungmin went all out with Jisung's permission. He teamed up with the other three too, and they started sparring with netizens insulting Jisung. They even got their lawyers to send out letters, saying that they would take this to court.

Seungmin finally sent out a Twitter post. "You ignorant people think that a self-possessed person has to be a result of money. Why can't you allow it to be due to talent? What's this about money? Let me ask you people then even if I give you money to learn all those skills, would you be able to get to Hyung's level of skill?"

Seungmin's popularity on "Swapping Lives" had been pretty good too. He was lively, down-to-earth, and a little goofy, so many people like him. His outright support of Jisung, in turn, did not come across as an abrupt move, but made people feel like his words could be trusted and were not just for show.

Meanwhile, the other three youngsters who had participated in the programme all came forward to vouch for Jisung too, saying that their Jisung hyung was definitely not like what those people were saying. He was obviously very talented, gentle and an excellent person.

Even with all of this, Jisung's name could not be washed clean. The main focus was that Jisung was a kept pet, and whether he was talented or not had no real connection to his character.

The addition of Seungmin and the other youngsters using their real IDs to get involved in the mess made the situation more messy.

"This was aimed at me." Jisung smiled as he read the trends on the internet. The expression in his eyes did not change. He was very calm.

Felix was sitting next to him. He retorted, "Those who follow trends are forever brainless."

'He was mad?' Jisung raised his head to look at him.

Jisung could not help smiling. He moved close to Felix and patted his hair. "Don't be mad. You have a rare few days of rest. It's not worth you getting mad over something like this." He stood as he spoke. "Want some tea?"

"I'll get it." Felix hurriedly got to his feet, but Jisung pressed him back down on the sofa.

"Do you know where to get the tea? It's better that I go." Jisung was very close to Felix when he said that. Warm breath caressed Felix's ear, and his ears turned red immediately.

On the sofa, Felix slowly came back down to Earth again after some time. Just then, a basket in the corner of the tea table caught Felix's attention.

He reached out and pulled it to himself. The basket was filled with gadgets men used, but the style of these gadgets had a more mature inclination to them. It was obvious that these were made for older men, and not something a young man like Jisung would use himself.

'So was this a purchase order?' That was Felix's first thought, but the book he found next to the gadgets changed his way of thinking.

It was Jisung's diary. Felix had not known what was written in it before he'd opened it up out of curiosity. He only read one page, but he was overwhelmed by Jisung's description of deep despair which had been borne of Minho's rejection of his love.

'Day (idk), Month (idk), Year (idk)

It was only today that I understood for certain that I am just a substitute. Even so, I also wish that Uncle Lee can be happy...'

The devastating sorrow made Felix's heart grow cold immediately. That familiar timestamp was like a sharp knife, plunging itself into his heart and making it bleed. Felix remembered the date well. It was the date Jisung received the script.

It was also the day Jisung had been cast aside by Minho to become Felix's stepping stone.

Felix's breathing grew short. He quickly flipped a few pages ahead, like he was anxious to find proof of something. What met his eyes was Jisung's expression of deep feeling for Minho.

The little object in the basket next to him was, without a doubt, something which Jisung had made personally for Minho.

'So did Jisung love Minho, even when he had been made to kneel and beg, and to give up his pride and self-esteem?' Felix thought.

Felix was rooted to the spot. His fingers started to tremble with the stinging of his heart. Uncontrollable darkness and jealousy tore through him, rearing ugly heads in his heart. He clenched his fists subconsciously as he tried his best to keep a hold on his emotions.

And right at that moment, the sound of footsteps came from behind him. The unexpected sound interrupted his thoughts, and Felix looked back to see Jisung walk out of the kitchen, carrying some black tea.

Jisung saw Felix's movement right away, and his usual warm smile dimmed. It was as if what Felix had stumbled across was not Jisung's diary, but a bringer of disaster.

The atmosphere in the room became tense immediately.

Felix had actually misunderstood. Jisung's expression had changed not because he had invaded his privacy, but because that diary that Felix had read was fake.

The foolish old Jisung had fallen into complete despair after he'd found out that Minho only treated him like a substitute, so he would not have been in any state of mind to write these heart-wrenching diary entries.

These diary entries were all fabricated by Jisung after he had transmigrated into the old Jisung's body.

He had planned on giving this to Minho as a gift after Minho was filled with regret. The old Jisung had been deeply in love after all, and someone had to know about it. He'd never imagined, however, that this newly-crafted diary would bring Felix such great upset before he could use it on Minho.

This was tough. Jisung thought for an explanation. Before he could speak, however, Felix dashed over and hugged him. The cup of tea in his hand dropped to the floor with a crash, shattering into pieces.

"Felix." Jisung called his name, but Felix held him stubbornly in a hug, unmoving.

'Why was he so afraid?' Jisung's heart softened immediately, and he lifted Felix's chin forcefully so that their gazes met.

He stared at him with aggrieved, red-rimmed eyes, looking like he was on the verge of crying. The feelings he could not hide burst out in that instant.

He said not a word, but his eyes said everything. It was a love which needed no words. A deep love which swept a person away.

'Jisung... Minho is a bastard. Don't give him your love anymore.

I will learn how to care for you. I will do my best to earn money, to mature faster and become an adult who can protect you.

I love you. Can you begin to love me too?'

Every unspoken word struck Jisung's heart, and he was shaken by the deep love Felix showed him. He subconsciously moved a step back, trying to release himself from Felix. This reaction of his, was, to Felix, an obvious rejection.

But Felix did not accept it. A dangerous thought came to his mind in that instant. He loved Jisung, and he wanted him. All of him. How could he just admit defeat because Jisung rejected him? He'd read Jisung's confession about Minho, and was completely rejected by Jisung, but Felix was still a teenager and he began to lose hold on his reason under the influence of his emotions.

His mask of harmlessness was ripped off in his despair, and the wolfishness hidden under Felix's gentle, obedient exterior, was finally let loose.

In his great sadness, Felix forcefully wrapped Jisung in his embrace, and lowered his head to kiss him without restraint. He kissed his forehead, then his eyes, and next his lips.

It was clean, pure, warm and passionate. It was unpracticed because of inexperience but it was also this inexperience which made the kiss so absorbing. It was just a simple skin-to-skin contact, but it had the bewitching power to make him have the strong desire to grasp true love in his hands.

Felix's lips touched Jisung's and he abruptly turned his head away to avoid it. He then moved himself out of Felix's embrace and sat himself on the sofa again. His calmness was as if the earlier intimacy was just a dream.

"Why?" Felix stood where he was. The intimacy they had between them earlier also disappeared immediately.

Jisung made no move to answer, and the two of them finally parted in unhappiness. Jisung did not say anything to chase him away, but Felix knew that it was not right for him to stay. With Jisung's personality, he would not cut ties with him but he would definitely not want to contact him in the near future.

Even so, he would not give up.

Felix did not regret it. Jisung understood his feelings for him, at least, and he would not look at him like he was just a younger brother anymore.

This could be considered a blessing in disguise.

Felix stood outside Jisung's house in the yard for a long time in silence before he took out his phone and sent a message. He left reluctantly after sending the message.

Five minutes after Felix left, Jisung's phone started vibrating all of a sudden. The news alerts from the Twitter phone app were coming in so rapidly that the phone seemed almost on the verge of dying from all the vibrating.

What was going on? Jisung picked his phone up to see, and was stunned.

Felix: I love you, Jisung. @SungHan 

He'd confessed. He'd confessed in the most direct way, and to the world wide web.

It wasn't just Jisung who was stunned, but the netizens too.

Everyone would not have found it out of the ordinary if it had happened at another time, but this happened at this specific time. Right now, Jisung could be said to be the object of ridicule of the internet.

So Felix's confession was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and it sent the entire entertainment world into a mess.

The fans of the Jisung and Felix coupling were turned over in diabetic shock from this sweetness. In their hearts, they raised the flag for Felix's love and saluted his awesome boyfriend power.

Whatever their reactions were, the subject was finally changed from whether Jisung was really a kept pet, to the matter of Felix's confession.

A popular celebrity's love confession aroused the curiosity more than baseless gossip after all.

Felix and Jisung's fan website received lots of attention immediately. The video clips which the fans had made to hint at tenderness between the two suddenly took on new meaning after Felix's confession.

The fans of shipping were immediately all enthusiastic, and they felt a sort of satisfaction in the development. They had official confirmation from Felix! They were the messengers of truth!

As for the rumours that Jisung was a kept pet, based on Felix's reaction, those were surely nonsense! Everyone knew that Felix was the heir of the Seo family. If Jisung had really been a kept pet from a young age, then how could Felix, with his status, have such a high-profile courtship of him?

It must be slander!

"Don't you dare come back, you people who left the fandom! Our Sungie doesn't need you."

"Yeah! Quick, go hug Sungie, Felix! It's so tough for you guys to have such an upsetting thing happen to you right after you came back to Seoul."

"I actually want to know who first started smearing Sungie's good name. Besides, it's normal to have help from others. Calling it 'being kept' is overboard! Sungie is still a minor. Those who say that the pictures are real must have something wrong with their heads."

The fans who had been pressured into silence finally found an opportunity to speak out again.


	7. 2nd

After his confession of love, the public relations companies under the Seo family corporate banner took the lead on demolishing the malicious rumours. They directed the public's opinion as much as they could without intruding on Jisung's privacy. Meanwhile, a flood of lawyers' letters were sent out, and practically all the verified Twitter gossip accounts which had hurt Jisung the most were hit.

That small-time internet celebrity was not let off the hook either, of course. He had caused a lot of damage to Jisung, so Felix was going to get his subordinates to damage him back.

Felix read the data his subordinate handed to him and said scornfully, "Minho is not just an idiot, but a blind idiot to have nurtured this sort of trash."

He then tasked his subordinate with posting this information on the internet.

Felix did not care how miserable that little internet celebrity would end up being. He had made move first and he deserved it.

With that thought in mind, he deliberately sent a text message to Minho. He wrote just one line with the aim of infuriating Minho.

Felix was busy dealing with the situation on the internet and Minho was not sitting idle either. Minho looked at the two messages on his phone, and he got so mad that his temperature rose.

One of the messages was from Felix, and it was just one line: Keep your distance from my Sungie. 

It was short, and aggressive, warning him not to touch Jisung and that he, Felix, liked Jisung. How laughable.

Minho was so angry he laughed.

He had arranged for Jisung to be on the programme to act as a stepping stone for Felix, but Jisung had ended up stealing Felix's heart and checkmated him. There were no impenetrable walls to keep things secret in these circles, and Felix had already decided to make his move. He had even done a high-profile confession on Twitter. It wouldn't even take a few days for all of the people of standing in Seoul to know that he, Minho, had been destroyed by the boy he lusted after and the substitute he had nurtured.

"Well, well. I'd never have thought that Jisung would have this sort of capability." Minho glared at his phone. He felt like his breath was caught in his chest.

The second message which soon followed made Minho's anger boil over.

It was a sneaked snapshot, and the sender was an assistant whom Minho had sent to watch Jisung. 

The picture clearly showed Jisung and Felix through a window. Felix was holding Jisung in his arms, and his head was lowered in a kiss with Jisung.

The threat from Felix was not the slap which hurt the most. Felix and Jisung had kissed.

He had groomed Jisung for five years, and he had not had the chance to touch even a finger of his before he'd been played. Felix was reckless on his part. Jisung was still considered Minho's person, and Felix still dared to pursue him so openly.

Minho dashed the mobile phone to the ground, and paced around his house anxiously. He felt that he needed to calm down, but the picture he'd seen on his phone kept popping up in his mind. The image of the two of them being intimate surfaced whenever he shut his eyes. He also remembered his last meeting with Jisung, and his malicious challenge in vivid detail.

'So what would their kiss taste like? Would it be pure and innocent, or more seductive' The thought flashed through his mind, and Minho was shocked by his own imagination. His body, on the other hand, was very honest. His lower half had a very obvious reaction due to this desire, and stood as a representative of his true thoughts hidden under his anger.

Compared to punishment, what Minho wanted to do more was to seize Jisung right away and bring him here, then throw him on the bed and teach him a good lesson. He wanted to break his pride, and have him surrender completely to him.

And the small-time internet celebrity who had planned the attack on Jisung's reputation stumbled right into this current situation.

In Minho's office, Minho fucked the internet celebrity so hard that it was as if he would break him in two. His actions were much rougher and way more intense than the last time. Minho tortured his lover for two whole hours before he let him go.

The moment he was finished with him, Minho treated his lover like a piece of trash and kicked him to the floor. His lover was so weak in the knees that he could barely stand.

'How boring.' Minho leaned against the headrest of the bed and lit a cigarette. He didn't even spare his lover a second glance.

"Scram!" Minho threw his clothes at him. He followed that with a double entendre. "Don't look for trouble anymore, and no one will be able to touch you."

He casually threw out that promise and ignored him afterwards. His bit of release earlier had calmed him down. He admitted to himself that he did desire Jisung, but it was only because Jisung had deliberately seduced him, just like how Jisung had deliberately seduced Felix during the filming of the programme.

Minho thought of all that had happened, and felt that he should not let Jisung be any longer. Who knew what greater trouble Jisung would bring with his motives and methods in seducing people. As for Felix, he wanted to find some way to help Felix see what type of person Jisung truly was.

Minho sent a text message in reply to Felix: Don't make a fuss, Lix. Jisung is a plaything.

Minho put the phone down and waited for Felix to write back. What he had not expected at all was that Felix had no intention of replying to him.

Felix was sincere about his courtship of Jisung. Jisung was the one who was being passive about it. He had not given him an outright rejection, but he had made to move to accept either.

The person whom Minho had sent to watch Jisung had done a thorough job too. He had a detailed report on all the times Felix had gone to meet with Jisung.

The twisted desire in Minho grew increasingly scary as he looked at the photographs and information before him.

But Felix's cousin was continuously getting in his way in their circles. That young Godfather of his, too, was still in Korea. All these made it such that Minho had no time to spare to work on the problem of Jisung.

Minho was just unable to tend to many things at the same time, but that internet celebrity was in a miserable state.

Felix had been ruthless. The internet celebrity had smeared Jisung's name by saying that he was a kept pet, so Felix had revealed all of the internet celebrity's dark past. All was revealed, even the time from before he had entered the industry and had gone to another country to work as a male escort. Him being Minho's lover was and what happened after that was also posted to the internet.

It was different from Jisung's case, where it was just rumours about him being a kept pet and there being no hard evidence. The internet celebrity's identity as a kept pet was without question. There was also the revelation that he had undergone plastic surgery. This piece of news brought him the most trouble.

This internet celebrity had gone under the knife to make himself look like Felix on purpose, and used this new face of his to get himself sponsors. Compared to the doubts people had of Jisung, this internet celebrity was obviously a real rent boy.

The internet celebrity was under fire now. The revenge he'd tried to take on Jisung all came back to bite him, and he was soon too afraid to even leave his own home.

\--------

A smile finally graced Felix's face when he heard the report from his assistant that the negative information on Jisung on the internet had been resolved by the public relations company. He took out his phone and sent a message to Jisung. "There won't be anyone causing trouble for you anymore. I will work hard, Sungie."

Jisung was at a bit of a loss, but the message from Felix touched him deeply.

He opened up the curtains and watched as Felix stood in a corner outside his door, looking like he was afraid to knock. He sighed softly.

Felix had come practically every day to see him recently, but for some reason, he had not knocked on the door, ever. He always stood there for a while before leaving, like a little kitty who'd been bad, ears down and afraid to go home.

Jisung shook his head helplessly and went to open the door for Felix. As soon as his eyes met Felix's surprised eyes, he grabbed him by the wrist and pulled the hesitant kitty into his house.

Felix had stood outside for quite some time, and his hands were cold. Jisung was afraid that he would catch a cold, so he quickly sat him on the sofa and wrapped a blanket around him. He then went to make a cup of tea, and also brought him some snacks he had baked in the afternoon.

Felix behaved himself this time. He ate whatever Jisung gave him. He sat quietly for a bit after he was done eating, then volunteered to leave without prompting. He did not really say anything up to the point he left. He couldn't help himself, and he hugged Jisung and gave him a kiss on the forehead right before going out. Felix then turned around and ran away.

He sent Jisung a text message only when he was far off in the distance. "I've missed you, Sungie."

Jisung read this message and his heart melted into a puddle. This sweet child, Felix, was such a silly boy. He couldn't help curving his lips upwards in a warm smile.

What Jisung did not know, was that the earlier interaction between himself and Felix had been very coincidentally witnessed by a young man somewhere close by, and this young man was the young Godfather whom Minho served.

He just sat quietly in his car, watching. He told his driver to drive off only after Felix had got some distance away and Jisung had gone back into his house.

"It looked like it's the Jisung who likes Minho." His assistant quickly found the relevant information.

The young man showed surprising interest and replied, "Like? He's just playing with him!"

From what he saw, a person like Jisung was not someone a youngster like Felix could handle. His age was his greatest disadvantage. Jisung treated him like a man indulging a child.

Morons like Minho had even less of a chance with him. The young man had been of the opinion that Jisung had bad taste in men to have fallen for Minho, but what he'd found recently made him feel that Jisung thought nothing of Minho.

As for the rumours circulating in the inner circles, about Jisung's deep love for Minho. The rumours seem to be all nonsense.

But why had Jisung been willing to stay by Minho's side for so long if he did not love him? Jisung became even more interesting to him the more the young man thought about it. He was also quite curious about just what Jisung was after.

"Keep investigating." The young man gave an order and told his driver to leave.

In the days that followed, Jisung's life returned to normal for the time being, but that internet celebrity's life was immeasurably miserable.

His past had been completely revealed, and his public image was in shambles.

The promise which Minho had made him was a total sham. There was no compensation for him other than the few millions deposited into his account. In comparison, Jisung had had his bad reputation wiped clean by Felix's efforts, and he had also gained quite a few diehard fans.

The internet celebrity scrolled through the news on the internet. The hatred he had for Jisung grew deeper.

If only there were something which he could use against Jisung. He could think of nothing in his increasing anxiety. Jisung had Felix to protect him too, so there was no way he could put his plan in motion even if he did come up with one.

In the end, his childhood friend from outside of the entertainment circles gave him an idea. "Wasn't there no concrete proof that Jisung's a kept pet? You can just make the concrete proof, and that settles it, right?"

"Not possible. He's underage. If things go get blown up I'll be thrown in prison too."

"He's still got half a month to go to be an adult! Just find some opportunity, man!"

"There's no good opportunity." The internet celebrity thought that this was a bad idea.

"Are you stupid, or what? You just have to make the thing about him being a kept pet true. Who his master is, is not important!"

"Would that work? I'm still thinking about it. This idea of yours is a little too ridiculous."

The internet celebrity ended his conversation with his childhood friend after that. He did not agree to his idea, but it stayed in his head.

What he had not expected was that an opportunity had presented itself to him very quickly.

The opportunity came in the form of Seungmin's Twitter post. The six of them who had participated in the "Swapping Lives" programme were going to meet up for dinner next Tuesday. They were going to meet at a club in the suburbs of Seoul.

This really was a Heaven-sent opportunity. The internet celebrity was excited.

That club was the most familiar place to him in Seoul, and he knew many people there. As for his methods, this internet celebrity had not come up with anything complicated. He was going to do find an opportunity to drug Jisung, then think of a way to deliver him to an agreed-upon room, to the bed of that investment broker.

That investment broker was a player in their circles. He had expressed an interest in Jisung at their last gathering, and he would not refuse a gift which got delivered to his doorstep. He was definitely not going to be a man of honour and show mercy.

And what the internet celebrity had to do was to just take a picture of Jisung the next day when he came out of the room all dishevelled.

If that happened, there would be no way that Felix would be able to protect Jisung. Besides, if that sort of thing actually happened to Jisung, with his temperament, Felix might not even want to look at him anymore and be leery of him being dirty. As for Minho, he would surely have the same line of thought as Felix.

The internet celebrity thought that his plan was quite perfect.

His little scheme, however, reached Minho's ears very soon. Minho owned that establishment, so his subordinate had all the details of the internet celebrity's plan right after he'd found people to help carry it out.

Minho made no move to stop the internet celebrity when he found out about the plan. He'd even quietly opened up a backdoor for him to make things go more smoothly for him.

Minho could not be sure of his own feelings on the matter either, but he had to admit that this internet celebrity's plan did excite him. This method was one which he normally found to be of poor taste, but the thought of being able to use this most simple method to destroy Jisung made him very excited.

\--------

Time flew, and the week passed quickly. Today was the day of Jisung, Felix and the others' gathering.

Minho had hurried to the venue early in the morning and got someone to take that investment broker away in advance. He did want the plan to be carried out and make the internet celebrity's plan a success. But he had to be the one who got to savour Jisung.

He had groomed him for so long after all. He was not going to let others have the pleasure, even if his toy was going to be destroyed.

Minho got excited just thinking about the coming pleasures to be had. The internet celebrity was excited too, because Jisung would become as wretched as he was today.

It was practically impossible for the internet celebrity to conceal the jealous hate in his eyes as he watched Jisung get surrounded by people upon his arrival at the venue.

Minho, watching the surveillance feed upstairs, was surprised. His gaze had fallen upon Jisung and Felix, and in that moment, he was unsure if he cared more about Felix, or Jisung.

Unaware of the scheming of the two men, Jisung had no clue of the impending danger. He was feeling quite cheery about the attentive care he was getting from Felix, Seungmin and the others.

Speaking of which, Felix, Seungmin and the others had chosen this day to have a gathering because it was Jisung's birthday, and it was his eighteenth birthday too. He would be an adult today.

The venue was a club, but it was still decorated in a way which made it comfortable. Even the food was the sort Jisung liked. He knew as soon as he stepped into the room that they had put a lot of thought and effort into this celebration.

The one who had taken the lead in all of this was Felix.

Though the awkwardness between Jisung and Felix had lessened a lot over time, Felix's persistence was making Jisung unable to say the many things he would like to say.

As for the rest of them, they could all see that there was something between the two. They had also all read Felix's public confession. Right now, the sight of them together, one drinking silently and the other pretending not to be bothered about it, was making all of them worried.

"I'd have to say that Felix is way better than that old bastard Minho." Seungmin could not help grumbling about it to the other three. He casually added, "That internet celebrity who spread rumours about Hyung online a few days ago was one of Minho's people."

"Holy crap! That guy's such scum!" The other three were outraged too.

"So what's so good about that sort of old bastard?" Seungmin angry the more he thought about it. He felt that it was fair that he'd been rejected, but Jisung shouldn't reject Felix.

Felix was so much better than Minho no matter how you looked at it.

\--------

The presents the youngsters gave Jisung varied, but every one of the presents was picked with care.

Felix's present was last, but when he put the exceptionally pretty present box in Jisung's hands, Jisung wrinkled his brow and did not open it.

This size, and this weight. Jisung recalled some details about Felix in the old Jisung's memories and very outwardly looked Felix up and down. The necklace which Felix usually wore was missing.

'Where did it go?' There was no need to ask.

Right then, Felix caught a clue of Jisung's realisation in his expression, but he stayed stubbornly on course and refused to back down.

Felix seemed nervous, and Jisung could even see the tremble in his eyelashes. Even so, Felix kept staring straight at him.

"You shouldn't have." Jisung shook his head but still accepted it in the end.

The corners of Felix's lips lifted in a smile instantly when he saw that. As he smiled, he reached out to hug Jisung. He said quietly in his ear, "I'm willing to do it." Those short words were brimming with joy.

What Jisung had in his hand was an old family heirloom of the Seo family. Items such as these were given as tokens to future partners. Though using this method to force the item on Jisung was a bit of an underhanded move, Jisung had still accepted it. This meant that his heart had been moved.

Felix couldn't help rubbing his face against Jisung's. He sat by Jisung's side again and cut the cake with him.

Felix had always looked gentle and elegant, and when he took such attentive care of Jisung.

After sipping some glasses of alcohol and getting tipsy, Jisung let himself be held, quite possessively, in Felix's arms.

This happiness of theirs was witnessed by the eyes of others, and it was like the final straw which drove one person in particular mad.

The internet celebrity had been waiting. Waiting for an opportunity to make Jisung disappear forever.

This was his revenge on Felix, and his revenge on Jisung.

The internet celebrity whispered to the waiter he had bribed, and switched a glass of wine out with a very special glass.

\--------

It was time to leave after three rounds of drinking. The youngsters had really let themselves go tonight. Felix saw the state they were in and quickly arranged for transportation to send each of them home.

"Sungie, stay. I have something to say to you." Felix looked expectantly at Jisung as he held Seungmin steady. He seemed cautious, as if afraid that Jisung would reject him.

"Okay." Jisung nodded and promised him right away.

What Felix actually wanted to say was words of confession. The hard work he had put in recently had not gone unnoticed by Jisung, and he knew.

Jisung felt that since he didn't have any task in this world, saying yes to Felix was not out of the question. Besides, this child was really easy to love. Felix was about seventeen now, and only a few months shy of eighteen. It wasn't out of the question to wait a little while more for him too. He was not in a hurry to leave this world anyway.

\--------

Jisung abruptly realised that development in the situation had occurred as he'd sensed when he felt an abnormal, foreign desire bloom in his body. This feeling was quite clearly the result of taking a hallucinogen which acted as a sexual stimulant.

"System?" Jisung struggled to stay conscious, and he tried to summon the System.

Point was, no matter who had had him drugged, this person must have some sort of high position to be able to make a move in this sort of club. He had no strength left now and would be easily taken advantage of.

There was no answer from the system.

Jisung didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, and his heart was weary.

He could not count on the System, but he still had to think of a way to save himself.

Jisung thought that the most pressing matter was for him to find someone to help him out of danger. It was taking a lot out of him to be able to stand right now. He had no clue when Felix would be back, and that person who had set him up must be waiting somewhere. The first thing he had to do was to get away from this place.

Just as Jisung was doing his best to get himself out of his condition, a young man appeared unexpectedly and immediately caught his attention.

His classic suit looked like the garb of noblemen, and the young man's presence was also quite attention-grabbing.

Jisung had an idea. However, when the young man drew close, Jisung, who had been meaning to use him to get out of his predicament, was suddenly struck by the young man's looks.

Jisung felt that this was the first time he'd seen a beautiful man who matched his sense of aesthetics so well. Under the influence of the drug, especially, this young man was even more enticing to Jisung.

The consciousness of Jisung in that moment was hanging by its last thread. The only thought he had in his head was of the young man before him.

Because this young man was none other than the young Godfather who could make Minho tremble in fear. And in this moment, he was an extremely enticing little dessert to Jisung.

The young man was not aware that the way Jisung was looking at him was off. He had approached because he had seen that Jisung was not in good shape, and he wanted to check if he was all right. He was soon grabbed by his tie by Jisung.

"You..." Caught unawares, the young man's head dipped at the pull. Jisung's lips, smelling of alcohol, were placed right by his ear.

"How about doing me a favour?" Jisung kept his mask of gentleness on, even in a time like this, but he was unable to hide his inborn strength and his thirst.

"What favour?" The young man was unperturbed.

"Take me away from here, and I'll reward you." Jisung could still put a small smile in the corners of his lips though the heat in his body was making him unsteady on his feet.

There was a trace of a look of appreciation in the young man's eyes.

He had come here today for Jisung.

He had actually become interested in Jisung the first time he'd seen him over the livestream.

Jisung's retaliation against Minho, in particular, was of great interest to him. He had been concerned about almost every detail, and couldn't help but stay to watch it all unfold, to watch Jisung and see what sort of amazing person he would be when he completely shed his disguise.

Right now, the teen standing before him had the body of a just-matured man, but his slim body was still weak and fragile.

He really was perfect.

The young man's gaze on Jisung was quiet, and deep.

Minho's old arrangements were indeed good enough to keep things hidden from the young man, but they were not enough to hold up against his deliberate investigation. Minho's actions were as plain as day to the young man. Every move of his could be broken down if the young man so wanted to look into it.

This was why he had known about everything from the beginning. He had just not been in any hurry to take action. When he found out that Felix had been deliberately moved away by Minho's manipulations, he got anxious. He quickly sent someone to protect Jisung in secret, and also caused some trouble for Minho at the same time to give him no time to make his move on Jisung. He then went over to the venue personally to see what condition Jisung was in.

It now looked like he had come at the right time. As he thought that, the young man said calmly, "Looks like your favour isn't a small one."

"But you can take care of it, right?"

"I can." The young man looked at him for a bit, turned around and said something to his assistant, and took Jisung up in his arms, princess-style. He left the hall from the other end, and, after exiting the club, he went straight to the hotel he frequented most in Korea.

\--------

In the top-floor suite of the hotel, the young man instructed his assistant to get a doctor for Jisung and sent a message to Felix at the same time to tell him to come get him.

"What did you say?" The assistant who'd received the instructions was stunned. He'd thought that the young man had brought Jisung back because he wanted to take advantage of him.

He did have a favourable opinion of Jisung but now was obviously not the time to get acquainted. Besides, Jisung was drugged now. If something did happen between them, it would be because of simple lust, and meaningless. 

With that thought in mind, the young man pulled the blanket up to cover Jisung up more and sat by the bed, watching him as he waited for the doctor to arrive.

\--------

Felix sent Seungmin home and made his way back, his brain buzzing with his plan to confess his love to Jisung. He had not managed to confess to him in person the last time, and this time, he had managed to make Jisung's heart soften a little, so he wanted to tell Jisung all of his thoughts and feelings.

Before he returned to the club, Felix fixed his hair and made sure he was looking his best, then went in. He discovered to his surprise that Jisung was not there. The present he gave him was also left behind on the window.

'Did this mean that he was not willing to accept him? That he was not even going to give him a chance?'

Sadness gripped Felix's heart immediately. By chance, he noticed a broken glass by the side, and found it strange.

Jisung was an all-round gentleman, so even if he was going to reject him, he would do return the item to him, face to face, and not simply leave it here. The way this glass had fallen and broken, too, was telling that something had happened to Jisung.

Felix picked up the glass and touched the alcohol residue. He held his finger up to his nose, and his expression changed immediately.

A drug.

'So who was it? Did Jisung drink it? Where was he now?' Felix's head was filled with chaos instantly but he quickly forced himself to calm down.

Felix felt that whoever it was, and whatever that person wanted to do, Jisung must still be in the club. He had been outside seeing people off after all, so it was impossible for him to not have noticed if someone had taken Jisung away.

The drug also had a certain time limit to its effects. Jisung could be intoxicated right now, but it did not mean that he would not be able to fight back. He would still be able to get some basic help if someone wanted to force him to do something.

Felix quickly gave his cousin a call to get him to help. While waiting, he hurried to the surveillance room, hoping to be able to check the footage and see just who had taken Jisung away. He soon had a reply from his cousin and he stopped in his tracks immediately.

The boss of this club was actually Minho?

Felix headed towards the top floor of the club. He went looking for Minho's room, and every number of every room which he passed made his heart beat with fear that he would be too late.

Felix was the only person in the empty corridor. He ran to Minho's room door as quickly as he could. The innocuous "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door seemed to stab viciously at Felix.

A muffled moan came from inside the room, crumbling Felix's hesitation. His heart sank. He pushed the door open right away and charged in.

Felix was not going to let Jisung be taken by scum such as Minho.

"Let him go!" Felix strode into the room. To his surprise, the person who was being pleasured in Minho's embrace was not Jisung.

It was actually that internet celebrity who had posted all those negative things about Jisung on the internet. It looked like there was something wrong with him too, and he was seducing Minho in a delirious state. Minho, on the other hand, was scared limp by Felix's sudden appearance.

"Lix, listen, I can explain." He hurriedly shoved the clingy internet celebrity aside as he tried to think of something to say to explain away his shame. However, the internet celebrity did not register Minho's intentions, and he scrambled to hug Minho's leg after falling to the floor. He even tried to take it to the next step with a look of intoxicated lust on his face.

This lewd scene made Felix sick. He would vomit if he saw any more. He scoffed, turned around, and went out the door, but his heart was strangely settled. 

It was a good thing that the person in there was not Jisung.

But he grew even more worried.

Felix had no more leads. He felt like a headless chicken with no sense of direction. However, he was truly out of ideas. Jisung had no family, no friends. The people closest to him were probably himself, Seungmin and the other youngsters who had participated in the programme.

Felix took out his mobile phone impatiently to urge his cousin to hurry. He had just sent a message to his cousin when he received a message from an unknown number. The message contained a location, and a name. Jisung.

So was this message from Jisung, or was it from the person who had saved him?

Felix got more anxious after reading that message, and replied: I'll be right there.

He ran out of the club. He kept urging the driver to hurry as he made his way there, afraid that he would not get there in time. Even with all that hurrying, he arrived at his destination after half an hour.

Looking at the low-key yet extremely tasteful design on the hotel, Felix's anxiety doubled. Fortunately, the manager in the lobby handed him a room key card right away after asking him his name, and gave him a brief summary of what had happened.

"The doctor has seen him. Basic checks and treatment has been administered. The doctor's prescription is on the bedside table, and you can have a doctor you trust take a closer look at it when you get back."

"Thank you for your trouble." A doctor had seen him, so Jisung should be fine now. A rock lifted off Felix's heart. He had not seen Jisung in the flesh yet, however, so he could not relax completely.

He gave his simple thanks, and went up in the lift, to the top-floor suite where Jisung was.

Jisung was sleeping peacefully on the bed when Felix opened the door and went in. There was no one else other than an attending doctor by his bedside. As for the young man who had brought Jisung here. It was like he had never appeared.

"How is he?" enquired Felix quietly.

The doctor seemed to be afraid of disturbing Jisung's rest, and he simply stood to move outside to talk with Felix.

It turned out that it really was the drug which Felix had suspected. Fortunately, Jisung had a lot of self-control, or he would have been severely disadvantaged because of his age now.

"Then, he's now..."

"He's fine. There will still be some after-effects so let him rest for the next two days. You can get a doctor you trust to give him a checkup tomorrow morning."

"I understand." Felix nodded. He sent the doctor off, and went to see Jisung.

Jisung lay nestled under the blanket in the room. He looked like he was sound asleep. When he got closer Felix grew involuntarily nervous.

He was just too alluring. This was a unique situation, but a location such as a hotel already was some strong hint in itself. Add the fact that Jisung had been drugged to the mix, and his much-reduced invulnerability. His delicate skin easily conjured up images of what he would look like if he were resisting his desire, what he would look like if he had tears in his eyes.

He would definitely be especially enticing.

Felix took a deep breath and curbed his wandering thoughts. He reached out and touched Jisung's forehead, and froze in the next second. Felix discovered that the clothes Jisung had on were not the clothes he had worn earlier today.

Felix's face fell immediately. The touch of Jisung's fevered skin, though, soon turned the atmosphere around him icy-cold. He was not angry because Jisung had had something happen to him but because he was simply feeling tortured by his suffering.

Felix was in the entertainment industry, so he knew well what side effects drugs like these had. Jisung had already had alcohol before he was drugged, so the mix of these two substances must be unbearable. Jisung was always on guard too, so he wouldn't be completely unaware of him when he'd been in the room for so long.

'If Minho had not.' Felix recalled the things his cousin had uncovered while he had been on his way to the hotel, and his dislike of Minho turned to hate. He hated him so much he wanted him dead right away. The arm he had around Jisung tensed.

"Felix?" Jisung finally opened his eyes but he was still not clear-headed. His gaze was still unfocused.

"Don't be sad. I'm fine." Jisung thought that Felix had had a scare, and he patted him on the back as he spoke comforting words.

But this gentleness and this show of thoughtfulness moved Felix even more. He did not want to endure in silence anymore, and he made all of his thoughts clear to Jisung.

"I love you, Jisung." It was a confession.

The gentle, beautiful youth knew that he had no hope but he persisted. He was not willing to give up.

He sighed, relaxed his face muscles, touched Felix's head, and attempted to reason with him.

"You're too young, Felix. I only see you as a younger brother."

"I can grow older!" Felix took out the box again like he was anxious to prove something, and held it out to Jisung. It was the present box.

'Could this be considered a refusal to acknowledge a promise made?' Jisung felt like laughing and crying at the same time. "But you didn't say what it was before."

Felix made no reply. The box in his hand, with one of its corners crushed out of shape, was a vivid representation of the apprehension in his heart.

Felix's eyes shone, and the corners of his lips curved up in a smile instantly, so beautiful that he could not tear his gaze away.

"I'm not even going to say yes to you. Why are you so happy?" Jisung was puzzled.

"Because I don't expect you to say yes in the first place. I just want a chance." Felix held Jisung's hands and opened the present box with him. He put the necklace in Jisung's hand.

"You have to be fair to me. I know you only treat me as your younger brother, and that you keep rejecting me because you can't bear to see me be in pain. But... you could wait for scum like Minho for so long. I'm ten thousand times better than him. You have to at least wait for me to grow up." 

Jisung looked at Felix, who was hugging him like his life depended on it, and could not find any words of retort.

Jisung knew he probably won't stay in this world for too long. He didn't want to hurt Felix.

'What will happen to Felix if I left?' Jisung thought.

Jisung said seriously to Felix, "Felix, I like you a lot but it is definitely not love."

"I know, but mine is."

\--------

Felix cautiously took Jisung up in his arms after he'd fallen asleep, planning to move him someplace else.

This was because Felix could see very plainly that this was someone's private room. The clothes on Jisung, too, were obviously some other man's clothing, and this made Felix's heart most sour.

'How could he be in another man's clothing!' At that thought, Felix put Jisung down and called his driver to go down to the car to fetch him a set of his clothing. He changed Jisung carefully before carrying him downstairs.

Felix tried to steal a kiss, but unfortunately for him, Jisung pinched the back of his neck before his lips touched his.

"Stop it," Jisung warned him.

"Mm, I won't disturb you. Sleep well." Felix smiled happily.

Felix knew when to stop too, and he placed a kiss on Jisung's forehead. He stopped wasting any more time and carried him out the front doors of the hotel.

This scene was witnessed in all its entirety by Minho, who had been watching outside for a long time. He was in a towering rage as he stepped forward to block their way.

"You two have become really capable now." Minho almost lost all sense of reason.

The sight of Felix babying Jisung now sent him into a rage.

But Felix was way angrier than Minho. His usual gentle demeanour vanished and a coldness spread around him. He was young, but that made that sharp edge of his more apparent, like a blade which could easily hack a man to pieces.

"Lix, leave Jisung behind and I can forgive you." Minho seemed to have dragged these words out of his throat with great effort.

Felix scoffed and walked around Minho, with Jisung in his arms. He did not even acknowledge him. As for Jisung, who was being carried by Felix, he very coincidentally awoke at that moment and glanced at Minho in interest. The angle as they passed made it such that Minho could see the look on his face.

That look of mockery consumed Minho with humiliation.

Minho was so, so mad that he almost lost control.

He had planned it well. The internet celebrity was supposed to drug Jisung and have him taken to Minho's room. What he had not expected at all after all that waiting was to be informed by his assistant that Jisung was missing.

How could a living, breathing person just vanish into thin air? However, all of the club's surveillance footage had been erased by somebody, and he could not find any leads.

And so, Minho could do nothing else but to get the internet celebrity to come to him and have him questioned. He had discovered to his surprise that the internet celebrity had also been drugged, and he had clung on to him like a madman. That was when Felix had stumbled into the room and seen them.

How could there be such a coincidence? This could be a calculated plan of Jisung's, to completely turn Felix against him. Minho very easily put all of the blame on Jisung.

Another doubtful thing drew his attention too. A long-term reservation of a suite in a hotel such as this could only be made by a person of special status.

That person had even notified Felix to come to fetch Jisung. If this was not a coincidence, then he could only say that he had underestimated Jisung's capabilities.

Minho grew more convinced that Felix was being deceived by Jisung the more he thought about it, and he wanted to pull off Jisung's mask of lies.

Unfortunately, Felix already hated him.

Felix put Jisung gently in his car. He was afraid that he would be cold, so he covered him with his jacket.

"Sleep for a bit, Sungie. I have something I'd like to say to him."

"What?"

"I'll help you get back at him." Felix was earnest. He very thoughtfully wound down the window a little to make it easy for Jisung to watch the scene unfold. He wanted Jisung to be thoroughly disappointed in Minho.

"Minho, this is not the place to talk now, but I will not stay idle when you've schemed to harm Sungie." Felix went straight to the point.

'Did Felix take him for a fool?' Jisung was, first and foremost, a person he had groomed. Felix had snatched him up and even given him a warning.

"Felix, don't do whatever you want just because I like you."

"Because you like me? You must be misunderstanding something about yourself, Minho. I am the sole heir of the Seo family. You are just a bastard of the Lee family. Do you think you can have the stable position you have now if you don't lick the shoes of that Godfather of yours? We have given you some respect because of that Godfather."

Minho was speechless in response to Felix exposing his secrets. He had indeed been born out of wedlock and had taken a man younger than himself to be his Godfather, but no one had dared to casually bring up such humiliating things in front of him since he had become a person of power in the Lee family.

Felix's words made Minho lose control. He grabbed Felix by the collar and yanked him viciously to him, eyes blazing and looking like he wanted to tear him apart.

"You can look down on me, but don't forget Jisung is a plaything that I've groomed."

Felix curved the corner of his mouth up mockingly. "You'd better watch your words. Sungie did not depend on your money to survive to this day. As for the word 'plaything' it describes you more appropriately! You're just a pet dog that Chan has in Korea." 

"You wanna die, you fucker?!" The last bit of calm he had was ripped away.

He turned completely brutal. Minho's assistants, too, stopped holding back. They raised their arms to strike blows, and the force which they used meant that Felix would truly suffer if any of the blows landed on him.

But Felix was not the least bit afraid; a trace of laughter appeared in his eyes.

"Intent to beat up a minor. You're too bold, Minho."

'Shit!' Minho's heart sank. He immediately realised that he had fallen into Felix's trap. Sharp, abrupt pain in his lower body made him scream in reflex as he fell to his knees, bent over.

Who would have thought that Felix would suddenly raise a leg while he was hesitating, and give his lower body a vicious kick?

Felix was actually trained in some self-defence. He was still a minor, but his strength was definitely greater than the average grown man. Minho felt like his balls had been smashed to ashes.

"Take this as a warning. If you dare touch Sungie with vile intent again, I will teach you a lesson! As for the rest, I'm sure the police will be very happy to chat with you when they get there. Soon."

Felix waved his phone in Minho's face when he was done talking. He'd called the police hotline. Felix turned away and went back to his car, ignoring the sorry figure of Minho, who was on the ground clutching at his lower body. 

"Let's go home." Felix's coldness disappeared rapidly in front of Jisung. He was a loveable kitty again.

Minho had been taken away by the police.

\--------

Jisung could not help laughing. He turned his head to look out the car window, and, in the instant his gaze met that of Minho's hate-filled eyes, he mouthed, "Like it?"

Jisung then shut his eyes and relaxed. He was enjoying the care Felix was showering him with.

"Damn it!" Minho lay on the ground in agony. The immense pain made him unable to get to his feet, and the extreme shame and humiliation he suffered turned his eyes red. If looks could kill, he would have killed Jisung and Felix.

The police who came later, though, cared not for all of that. They did not even consider sending him to the hospital when they saw him on the ground. Instead, they hauled him off the ground rather roughly, handcuffed him, and tossed him in the police car. 

\--------

It was nearly afternoon when Jisung awoke the next day. He had had a good sleep and he felt no great residual effect from the drug other than a bit of weakness in his limbs.

In contrast to Jisung's relaxed state, Minho was in indescribable misery. He was going to go mad.

Minho had been released on bail by one of his assistants early that morning. What he had not expected, was that somebody had actually recorded the scene in front of the hotel.

# President of Lee Entertainment taken away by the police for assaulting a minor

# The hidden true face of the dignified President of Lee Entertainment

Various gossip headlines broke the news. What most caught Minho unprepared, however, was that his all lovers had been exposed too.

The internet celebrity was exposed amongst his lovers as his boyfriend. There was very real evidence of this too. A recording of the two of them, entwined in the club last night.

"Woah, Woah! I'M SHOOK! Those rich people sure know how to have fun."

"Heh. Fun? My eyes burn from looking at their filthy display. That young man who ended his family line with a kick did a good job! Scum like this guy deserves it."

"Don't you guys think he's a pedophile? Do you see it too? Every one of his lovers was taken"

"No way! How was scum like Minho released? He should be castrated immediately so that he won't harm more people." 

Even the young Godfather whom he feared so much sent him a message: You're on your own.

"Fuck! Did you guys find who did it, or not? One night. Just one night and all of this information got made known to everyone."

In his office, Minho slapped his assistants across his face. He paced about in agitation. His big movement affected the injury to his lower body, and his face paled in pain immediately.

"President Lee, it's probably Young Master Seo who did this. But you know too that we..."

"Get out!" Minho did not want to hear excuses,-

Of course, he knew that this was something that Felix could have done, and he also knew that there was nothing he could do to overturn this disadvantage. Felix was right. He was the only heir of the Seo family and had no restrictions on what he did.

Even so, he was not going to let this go. He couldn't touch Felix, but who's to say that he couldn't destroy Jisung?

Jisung, in particular, was just an orphan. He dared to plot against him, so he was going to let him experience hopeless despair.

Minho forced himself to calm down at last and recalled the online shop which Jisung relied on for his livelihood. He knew that Jisung had been able to support his own lifestyle the past s-something years due to the online shop. He was going to first cut off Jisung's source of income, and make him homeless.

Minho thought of Jisung's gang of greedy relatives and had an idea.

\--------

The next few days of Jisung's life were unusually dull. However, something interesting came to Jisung's door just as he was feeling a little bored.

It was related to the online shop that the old Jisung had. Jisung had had no work to do the past few days so he had drawn up two customised traditional clothing concepts and posted them up in the online shop.

He did not expect, however, that his shop would be closed down after he'd woken up. A lawyer's letter had also been sent to his mailbox over the internet, suing him for plagiarism.

What was going on? Jisung frowned in mild puzzlement. He logged in to the chat app and immediately received a message from someone he knew in the crafting circles.

"You're in trouble, you know. The Han family wants to sue you for plagiarism."

"What?" Jisung paused. What the person explained.

The Han family members who wanted to sue Jisung for plagiarism were none other than those greedy relatives of his. As for who'd given them the idea to take this action was Minho.

The so-called comparison images provided were a big joke too. They'd been smart, though. Instead of taking out the shamefully bad new products they had come up with in recent years, they had used the original drafts Jisung's mother had drawn before her death.

It was a design plan for a piece of traditional clothing, to be done with the indigo-dyeing method. The concept drawing Jisung had posted the day before was, coincidentally, also using the indigo-dyeing method for the cloth.

Jisung had got these skills from the old Jisung, and the old Jisung had learnt his skill from his mother. Their skills came from the same vein of learning, so the clothing made with these techniques were sure to have similarities.

"You're being so wronged! It's only a tiny bit similar. It's definitely not plagiarism. But the Han family is deliberately targeting you this time. There are posts about you on all the online forums in our circles and the posts are all painting you negatively. What are you going to do?"

The friend giving Jisung the details was also very anxious.

Jisung was well-known for being low-key and having great crafting skills in marketing circles, and he had not offended anyone either. It did not make sense for the Han family to go after him like this.

"Just how great is their grudge against you to do something so despicable!" Several people in the crafting circles who knew Jisung were outraged. Unfortunately, these people were young and their words held no sway.

However, this situation did not make Jisung anxious. He had not made a move right away when the internet celebrity had spread malicious rumours about him because he was waiting for these Han family members to join in. It was going to be easier to get them all in one go.

Back then, these Han family members had seized his parents' assets under the form of supervision. Afterwards, they had tortured the old Jisung in various ways and kicked him out of the house in winter. Jisung thought of all that the old Jisung had suffered at the hands of the Han family and felt that it was now time for him to take back what they had stolen, with interest.

With that thought in mind, Jisung logged in to the old Jisung's forum account and posted the same line on all the online forums where the Han family had posted their claims of plagiarism.

# Handicrafts Shop Owner: I'm back. Livestream will start at 9 pm, sharp.

All the netizens in the crafting circles who had been keeping an eye on his online shop situation smiled at this move of his.

Was this ' Handicrafts Shop Owner' guy retarded? He'd sinned plagiarism, and his shop had been closed down. He actually still had the guts to step forward and do a livestream?

"This is the first time I'm seeing someone be so brazen when he's plagiarised someone else."

"I can't take it anymore. This ' Handicrafts Shop Owner' is not right in the head!"

"Don't start scolding him yet. He said he's going to clarify things, right? We have to wait and see first."

The forums were in an uproar and quite a few were slinging insults around, but there were also a few reasonable posters once in a while too. No matter what their attitude though, a consensus had been reached.

They were going to watch the livestream and see just what this 'Handicrafts Shop Owner' had to say.

\--------

Quite a few people were already there, waiting to see how this shop owner was going to explain himself. The accusation of plagiarism was as good as truth in the eyes of 70% of the people. There must be solid proof too, or how else would his online shop have been closed overnight?

But, a lot of people were stunned when the ' Handicrafts Shop Owner' went live.

The face that appeared on their screens was just so familiar. It was Jisung from the recently-ended programme, "Swapping Lives"!

"Sungie? What's going on there? He knows the shop owner of Handicrafts?" a fan of Jisung could not help but ask.

The netizens who wanted to watch the plagiarism explanation kicked up a fuss next. "What is this? The shop owner of Handicrafts is the one who copied others, so what is a reality show guy doing here?" 

"Yeah! He's not part of our circles, is he? He must be high. I felt uncomfortable when I watched him make traditional clothing on the programme. This is culture, and something we believe in. It's now all turned into some goods bearing a vague resemblance to the real thing. Trash!"

Negative talk like this was all silenced when Jisung opened his mouth to speak.

Jisung adjusted the camera angle and said his first words on the livestream. "Hello everyone. I am the shop owner of Handicrafts, Jisung."

"Holy crap! Who did he say he is?"

"He's the shop owner? WHAT?!"

"Didn't the shop owner of Handicrafts start accepting orders five years ago? Jisung only just turned 18!"

And in the face of all this doubt, Jisung chose to let the evidence speak for him.

He took out the permit for operating an online shop, real-name verification of the payment platform, the purchase orders he had received, as well as the designs he had drawn over the last five years. He put every item in front of his audience, hiding nothing from sight.

He had written his source of inspiration, the craftwork required and the target audience on every page of his design drawings. The topmost drawing was of the indigo-dyed traditional clothing design which the scummy Han family members had accused him of plagiarising.

Jisung showed this design to his audience and said slowly, "We are all crafting people here. The original drawing makes it clear whether it was plagiarism or not. Now, let me answer the questions. Why are my techniques in indigo-dyeing so similar to Bae Suzy's? It is not because I deliberately copied her, but because Bae Suzy is my mother."

Jisung took out a household register booklet, with just him registered. On that lonely page, clearly written in the column for 'Mother' was...

Name: Bae Suzy  
Relationship: Mother

It was chaos on the livestream channel.

First, the fact that Jisung was the shop owner of Handicrafts was already quite shocking.

Several people were speculating that the shop owner of Handicrafts was a designer, and definitely not a young man of eighteen like Jisung.

All these people, however, were proved wrong. The shop owner of Handicrafts was Jisung.

The online posts accusing him of plagiarism was a huge joke now. Jisung was Bae Suzy's son, and mother and son would have techniques learnt from the same branch so it was absolutely normal for there to be similarities in style.

"Woaaaaah! This is a huge reveal! Somebody hit me, please. I think I'm hallucinating!"

"O.M.G. People were guessing that the shop owner of Handicrafts was an adult in his thirties but it turned out that it's Sungie's."

"Even so, why did the Han family sue him for plagiarism? He got his skills from his mother. Jisung is Bae Suzy's's own son!"

Line after line of doubt appeared on the chat screen, and Jisung was not going to hide anything.

"It's quite normal for the legal representative to be changed because mu uncle seized the inheritance my parents left for me. I won't go into details here today, however. Additionally, I have hired lawyers to look into the relevant cases of the forced closure of my online shop and the malicious attempt of my uncle framing me for plagiarism. Since he wants to go at it the legal way with me, I will respond in kind."

Jisung posted a Twitter link and displayed a statement of charges.

Defendant: Han (something).

His charge was a vague one which sent thoughts wondering.

Violation os assets

"No wonder the works of Han Crafts were so ugly for the past five years. They stole someone else's company. Of course, they won't know how to run it."

"They freaking stole the assets from Jisung after his parents passed away,"

The truth, sealed away for years, was finally all revealed. The Han family and the others had wanted to drive Jisung out of the crafting circles, but this dirt they had tried to throw on him had been flung back at all of them, and with a greater force too.

And at the same time, the despicable things they had done over the years were all brought out into the light by so-called insiders.

The Han Crafts they possessed now, in particular, had been anonymously reported, saying that the change in legal representation had been forcefully done back then by bribing a lawyer to have the will forged.

"Han Young Hyun and Bae Suzy would never leave the company to his elder brother. Plus, Suzy had said long ago that she wanted Jisung to inherit it in the future, and that's why she taught him all of her skills. Also, Han Crafts has never been a family business. Han Young Hyun and Bae Suzy built it up from scratch all by themselves!" The anonymous "informant" also released a chat log to prove that what he'd said was true.

It was a chat record of a Messenger group chat from six years ago. In the group chat, Suzy had shown the others in the chat the cloth Jisung had dyed and had said proudly to them that Jisung would definitely be able to take Han Crafts to the next level in the future.

There was no way that the Han family were going to be able to lessen the amount of scorn heaped on them when that was revealed. The chat log of a Messenger group chat could not be used as damning evidence in a court of law, but it was highly effective as a piece of supportive evidence.

After Jisung's uncle had seized control of Jisung's inheritance, he and his family had embezzled and misappropriated funds. What they'd done, and the details of what his son and daughter had spent excessively on, all became supporting evidence. In contrast, while the Han family had been enjoying their ill-gotten wealth, the true heir, Jisung, had been struggling to survive.

Jisung had been just thirteen when his inheritance was taken from him.

There were terrible relatives, but terrible relatives like Han family were a really rare breed of vileness. One of the people suddenly recalled that on the last episode of "Swapping Lives", Seungmin had said that Jisung had come on the programme because of money. He had also said that Jisung had no one but himself.

It now looked like it wasn't the case. He was not alone. He had a gang of cruel and unscrupulous bastards at his back.

A matter which had started from the crafting circles soon became a very public topic because of Jisung's livestream. The paid posters who had been trying to mould public opinion, in the beginning, were of no use now.

There was nothing to be done. The Han family were just too bastardly. Jisung had hit them so hard that there was no way for them to turn things around.

In Minho's office, Minho looked at how the tides had changed instantly, and was choked with anger. He received a call following that the police was requesting assistance in the investigation. Minho was beside himself with rage.

"Tell me what the fuck is going on here! Jisung may have backing but it is only Felix standing behind him. How can he be so untouchable? The police have sniffed me out even before arresting Jisung's uncle. What are you doing, you useless pieces of shit!"

Minho violently swept everything on his desk to the floor. He could not control his violent mood. Everything was going wrong.

All these recent things related to Jisung had ended with him getting destroyed. What made Minho most speechless was that he could not figure out just where things had gone wrong for him.

He was supposed to have been the one in control but Jisung had emerged victorious every time. Did the bastard Jisung plant a spy next to him? How else could he have been so well-prepared with a counterattack to whatever he had done? What made him despair the most was that everyone was attacking him.

"Go. Think of a way to manipulate public opinion again. Don't talk about anything else. Ask him where Jisung's money came from all these years. And about The Han family seizing Han Young Hyun's assets, How did Jisung get the house that he's living in now, then?! Next, get me a lawyer to chase those policemen away!"

They had been together for five years. Jisung was being too naive! Minho wondered if he should use some violent methods.

If it wasn't for that troublesome young Godfather of his still staying in Korea. Minho got more frustrated as he thought about it. His inner beast could not be free no matter how it rammed against its cage.

The young man who had saved Jisung received a notice immediately, right after Minho gave the order to his assistant.

"Well, it isn't easy to be this much of a moron." The young man was almost amused by Minho's decision. He also had a slight suspicion that Minho had amnesia.

Jisung had been with Minho for five years, but Minho had not given Jisung a single cent outside of the various useless lessons he had wasted his time on. Minho had actually spent Jisung's money. Those gifts from Jisung, and those meals he'd ordered, were all expensive picks. He claimed that Jisung was his kept pet, but it seemed more like it was the other way round.

The young man abruptly recalled what Jisung looked like when he was teasing Felix. Maybe he couldn't let Minho go because he was too much of an idiot to be left alone. That man had been a company president for years but he was still an idiot who didn't know how to win a bitch fight.

'This really was amusing!' A rare smile appeared in the corners of the young man's mouth when he envisioned how destroyed Minho was going to get from Jisung. He stretched out a hand and gestured for his assistants to come over, then said softly, "Clean up the loose ends. Those people have actually admitted that Minho paid them to slander Jisung, so make sure that they stick to it."

"Understood, sir. Should Master Jisung be informed?"

"No need for that. Just keep an eye on Minho and don't let him get out too easily. Keep it quiet on the Han family end too. Don't let the family hear of this no matter how much uproar there is. Also, get the data on those youngsters from the Lee family. Minho's generation is definitely all useless trash, but the next generation might have a good one!"

"Yes, sir." The assistant went straight to work. He couldn't help the pang of sympathy in his heart for Minho.

In the assistants' eyes, Minho was just too terribly unfortunate. It was already a tragedy that he lacked in the brains department, but he'd even been cheated on by the substitute he'd groomed, and the one the substitute had cheated with was the object of his desire. What was even more tragic was that his Godfather was now also planning on abandoning him.

\--------

The young man was just done with cleaning up loose ends when Jisung made his last big move.

Minho had not had time to release the material he had prepared when he got called out by Jisung on Twitter.

Jisung had not posted anything on Twitter previously, whether he had had dirt thrown on him, was praised, was insulted, or was admired. He had not even made a peep in response when Felix had confessed to him. This time, however, he had written a long post on Twitter. Attached to his post was a file with a long, long list of business turnover numbers and an account book.

The fans, who had been excited over Jisung finally being active on Twitter, clicked on the details of his post and were immediately thunderstruck.

They had never in a million years imagined that Jisung's life was way worse than they'd thought.

Having a house did not mean that he was free of burdens. To Jisung, this house that his parents had left him was his biggest burden. The high annual maintenance fees, heating costs and property expenses were enough to bend his back under their weight. His age at that time also meant that he had not much wiggle room when it came to finding work. He would have had no way of properly growing up, and have his present life, if it had not been for his exquisite craftsmanship, not to mention keeping his only house safe.

"I've heard of Handicrafts. That online shop has been around for four, five years. If we match the timelines, the shop owner did delay the production time for orders at around the times when students had their exams weeks. The shop owner also received orders and pushed new products during the school holidays. Handicrafts also had a temporary suspension of business during the time that "Swapping Lives" was being filmed."

"I believed it when I watched the livestream yesterday. My heart hurts the more I think about it. Sungie was only 13 when he started working in the crafting circles! I remember I ordered a jade hairpin from Handicrafts, like two years or three years ago, and I really really wanted it ASAP. The shop owner worked on it for an entire night for me. Now that I think about it, Sungie should have been 15 or 16 back then."

These fans, hearts hurting for Jisung, couldn't help teaming up and going to Jisung's uncle's son and daughter's Twitter pages to seek justice for Jisung.

All this activity and development on the internet, however, went unnoticed by the Han family. They had fled overseas to let things tide over when their collaboration with the internet celebrity had failed. They were returning to Korea now because Minho had called them back, saying that he had a way to get rid of Jisung once and for all.

But, they were being pointed at the moment they got on the plane. They had no one to blame but themselves.

The Han family were completely unaware of the situation. Jisung's uncle had been afraid of his son and daughter ruining things so he had not allowed them to go on Twitter in case they posted something they should not have and end up incriminating them. What he'd done had come back to bite him in the ass. He would have found out about the changes in the situation if he had let them on Twitter.

He was hit by the result of his actions after he got off the plane.

Jisung's uncle looked at the police officers who had suddenly appeared to take him away, and his legs grew weak. He paled when he heard the reasons for his arrest.

He had two charges, embezzlement and violation of assets.

"It's not like that! Please, listen to me! There was a will!" Jisung's uncle tried to make a final struggle.

The police officer took out an arrest warrant from his briefcase. "The lawyer who forged the will back then has pleaded guilty."

\--------

Jisung smiled when he saw that report.

The only thing left to do was to wait for the verdict. He was 18 now, and an adult. He did not need any guardian to inherit his estate. If things went as planned, the seized assets of parents would be returned to him.

Jisung visited the cemetery once in the following days to see the old Jisung's parents. He had stood silently before their tombstone for a long while. His heart hurt. He then placed the flowers he held on their grave before he left. Felix had accompanied him.

Felix looked like he had a lot of things weighing on his mind, and he left on his own after sending Jisung safely home.

Felix did not tell Jisung that he was actually going to leave the entertainment industry and return home to take up his responsibilities as heir to his family business. Felix felt that he, right now, had not enough power to protect Jisung. Minho was just trash, but he could skip right past him not just once, but twice, and lay his hands on Jisung. What if a more powerful person appeared in the future? 

Felix felt an instinctive panic. For some reason, he kept hearing a voice from the darkness telling him not to worry, and that Jisung would definitely be his in the end.

Felix decided that he was going to learn how to manage the family business from his cousin from that day on. His Sungie would be his to protect in the future, and no one else would be able to touch him!

\--------

Jisung, who had just arrived home from the cemetery visit, received a very special surprise visitor.

He looked at the young man outside his door. He was a blessing to his eyes, a perfect fit for his sense of aesthetics, but Jisung felt not one shred of appreciation of his good looks.

This young man was none other than the man he had approached with a proposition to get himself away from the club when he'd been drugged by Minho. Jisung had been worrying over meeting the man and explaining things to him after things had settled down. He'd never imagined that he had actually brought great trouble unto himself.

Jisung felt a headache coming on as he watched the young man in front of him, looking all poised and elegant while holding a teacup.

He had only just found out this young man's identity. Chan, the last of the noblemen of Korea. His family name was representative of power and wealth.

More importantly, the heads of the family to which Chan belonged were all famous for being Puritans.

Puritans were only intimate with their own partners. Jisung abruptly recalled the teasing and seductive vibe between himself and Chan that day. He fucked up.

Chan had now come knocking at his door and was expressing an interest in getting to know him.

He had not even managed to shake off Felix, and now this Puritan had come knocking. More importantly, Jisung was confused because, that day, for a moment, Chan had looked like a more mature Felix to him. But right now, seeing his facial features, his poise and the overall feeling he got, it was quite obvious that they were different.

Jisung nearly blurted out the question, "Do you think it's okay to be married but have separate lives?"

Fortunately, Jisung did not say that out loud. Even so, Chan could still see his unwillingness. He was not going to back down, though. He had the best bargaining chip to negotiate with Jisung too. He was a Puritan.

Leveraging on that, he turned from guest to host after just a short spell of silence. He got Jisung's permission and entered his kitchen.

Well, well. Chan's standards for caring for others were way beyond what Jisung had anticipated. Felix had been very attentive, but compared to Chan, he was still a lawless, craving for attention.

'So was this a hint to him that he was perfect husband material?'

He watched the man standing in his kitchen. Chan warmed the heart and pleased the eye even when simply making tea. Jisung did not have many ingredients, but Chan was still able to make a sweet snack which suited his taste buds.

Jisung leaned against the doorframe, breathing in the sweet smells from the kitchen as he admired the man. Lifelike this wouldn't be so bad. It wouldn't be so bad if he had not gone and teased Felix first.

He thought of what Felix had said, that 'you have to be fair to me, Sungie', and felt his head begin to hurt again.

Jisung's gaze went subconsciously to Chan, and he grew even warier when he saw how he found the teacup he needed from the depths of his cupboard.

"Don't beat around the bush. Tell me what your objective is!" Jisung was sitting on the sofa, and he went straight to the point right after Chan was done preparing tea for them.

Chan stretched out a finger and pointed at Jisung. "My objective is you."

"This isn't a funny joke."

"So you want to start this mess but not finish it?"

Chan's tone of voice was calm but Jisung nearly spat out his tea. "Baby, nothing happened between you and me."

He stressed the words 'nothing happened', and there was an implied warning in his voice.

Chan, however, did not speak. He just looked Jisung in the eyes. Those smokey eyes of his, that strange way they stirred up emotions in him. Jisung felt like he was being seduced.

Chan spoke in an especially serious voice, recounting their interactions in the club. "You approached me and hugged me, and spoke in my ear. You were trying to seduce me."

He seemed to be hinting to Jisung that nothing happened before, but they could have something happen now.

'Puritan? Screw that.' There was no way he could have him even if they were just playing. 

He stood and drew close to Chan. Up close, they could distinctly feel each other's breaths.

Jisung grasped him aggressively by the back of his head with a strength which seemed like it could mix their souls together. A flash of appreciation appeared in Chan's eyes at his aggressiveness.

Unfortunately for him, Jisung pulled away from the instant their lips touched.

"Puritan, eh?" Jisung gave him a condescending look.

The Puritans of this world saw intimate relations before marriage as taboo, and that included future partners too. The way Chan had moved in response to the kiss proved that he was no Puritan. He had only used that label as a guide to get close to him.

But Chan was not panicked at all about being exposed.

Chan murmured a line in Jisung's ear which stupefied him.

"How about I be a Puritan, just for you?" 

"What?" The cheesy pick-up line perplexed Jisung, and he stared at Chan for quite a while.

Jisung had been shaken by that line, hard. He could not figure it out.

Annoyance flashed in Chan's eyes. He'd just learnt this line from somewhere and it was supposedly sure to win you advantages when used to tease your partner. For some reason, though, this line had become a joke after he'd said it to Jisung.

Jisung seemed to be able to tell what he was thinking, and he couldn't help teasing him. "Well, read less of those romance books in future and use your looks more. That would be more effective than sweet nothings."

"Okay." Chan nodded and did as Jisung had said, using his looks to his advantage in a smile.

Jisung was dazzled by Chan's smile but he quickly covered up his reaction as he solemnly warned him for the last time.

"You're not a Puritan. Don't come looking for me anymore."

"Because of Felix?"

"No. Unless you want a marriage where we live separate lives." Jisung gave him his final choice.

But Chan smiled meaningfully. "Separate lives or not, it's not up to you to decide."

Jisung did not catch the meaning in his words at all. He pointed at the door right away to tell Chan that he could leave now.

However, Chan seemed to suddenly recall another thing. "Sung, how do you plan to handle the matter about your parents' company?"

"There's already an article of incorporation. The details have not been confirmed yet, so I can only talk about it when it's straightened out."

"You can contact me when you've thought it through. I think I can be of help."

"Not afraid of being on the losing end?" Jisung raised an eyebrow.

"Would you let yourself be on the losing end?" Chan smiled.

Jisung was at a loss for words. "You win. I won't. Hurry up and leave, don't waste my time."

Jisung waved his hand at Chan like he was chasing away a little dog.

As for Chan, he was surprisingly cheerful despite being sent away by Jisung. He felt that he had gained something good today.

\--------

Jisung started to prepare for what he wanted to do next after sending him off.

Jisung powered up the computer with a thought in mind and wrote a note in his plans. The corner of his mouth curled in a meaningful smile.

If the old Jisung had remembered right, Minho would have started moving his business focus from the entertainment industry to the tourism industry by now. Since that was the case, why not compete with him and see who'd emerge victoriously?

He was going make sure that Minho would get outplayed in business too.

Jisung then thought about the offer from Chan and abruptly felt that working together wouldn't be a bad thing. Chan's background would help save him from various problems.

He was going to tidy things up, so he was going to get it done quickly. The old workers his scummy relatives had placed in the company were cut off, requests for new talents to submit their applications for job positions were sent out.

Jisung's opinion on this part of the plan was that, whether the employee was old or new, he wanted innovation and intelligent design. The people who could keep up with his lines of thinking would be the true arms and legs of the company.

He communicated his ideas to his subordinates and went back to the computer to type. Han Crafts had started as an original handicrafts workshop. The business had also offered traditional culture-styled home renovation services when Younghyun was alive. This service, however, had been discontinued due to a lack of people capable of doing it in Han Crafts.

What Jisung wanted to do was to restart the home renovation part of the business, and expand it quickly.

Jisung wanted to do renovations for guesthouses and homestays. The tourism industry was now developing at a rapid pace, and the profits to be had from running these establishments were growing too.

Jisung felt that this was a very reasonable strategy.

He had only just sent out his proposal when he was contacted by someone. Felix was expressing interest in working together.

In the restaurant, Jisung looked at Felix sitting opposite him in a suit and couldn't help smiling.

It was quite obvious that Felix had gone through a lot recently, and his aura, especially, was no longer that of faked warmth but a degree of skilled wiliness.

However, Felix's foxy thoughts were all locked away when he met with Jisung, and he was just blindly obedient.

"What about talking business?" Jisung asked

Jisung's bad temper abated. He could only set aside the business talk for now and simply eat a meal with Felix.

But over an hour later, when they were finally done with eating, Felix still seemed like he had no intention of talking business with him. Instead, he shoved the contract at Jisung straight away, indicating that the deal would be done when he signed it.

"So you're not afraid that my plan would fail?" Jisung had given up resisting.

"I'm not. As far I know, though, you are the only one who can pull off this style right now." Felix replied.

"Plus, if I work with you, I will be in charge of promotion. Even if the guesthouse project fails, the direction of the business platform can change in the future. It won't be difficult to move on to property rental software. So, why would I be worried about losing money?"

What Felix said was entirely logical; Jisung was speechless. Felix then hugged him as he smiled, and said carefully in his ear, "Sungie, I've had too much to drink. I'm dizzy."

Jisung didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. "Get off. You got drunk just from two sips of red wine? Do you think I'm that naive?"

"Then I'll drink more." Felix was not embarrassed at all when his lie was exposed. Instead, he picked up Jisung's glass and drained it. "It's been about two weeks. I haven't seen you for that long. Don't you miss me, Sungie?"

There was no need to hold on to pride in front of a person he liked. Felix recalled the how-to guide he had read recently and decided to take advantage of his "assets". He was young, so he could act all coquettish.

And what Jisung was weakest against was this exact behaviour. So, in the end, he gave in to his yearning eyes and agreed to take him home with him.

"I want to sleep with you." Felix put his arms around Jisung from behind and buried his head on his shoulder.

"Sure, sure, let's sleep together." Jisung did not move away. Felix had indeed only had three mouthfuls of wine while they'd dined, but the glasses he had drunk after being teased added up to quite a substantial amount. He was probably genuinely drunk now.

Jisung felt Felix's alcohol-breath against his neck and sighed helplessly. He had no other choice left than to take this flirty, clingy kitty home.

However, he bumped straight into Minho in the doorway, right as he was going to take Felix out the hotel doors.

It was obvious that Minho had had a very bad time. He'd lost a lot of weight and his skin was terrible. The recent incident involving the Han family had very apparently brought him quite a lot of trouble.

Jisung could not help the fun in his eyes, and he felt like today was quite a good day. He was getting bored, and Minho delivered himself to him to get mocked. However, this excitement abruptly vanished a few seconds later.

Behind Minho was another person, and that person was the young man who had come looking for him a few days ago. Chan.

For some strange reason, Jisung got this feeling like he was some jerk who had gone to play around but got caught red-handed at home. The feeling passed quickly, and he regained his calm.

There was obviously no real relationship between them, so there was no need to feel guilty. Jisung became his usual smooth self again when he thought that thought. However, the hand which held him tighter about the waist made his headache start again.

A new lover, an old lover and a financial backer. Jisung suddenly felt like he was probably more of a dog than Minho.

Felix had seen Minho. Felix was indeed drunk, but he was just tipsy. He had just been taking the opportunity to act cute and get Jisung to pamper him by putting his arms around Jisung earlier.

All his drunkenness went away now that they'd run into Minho.

It was the same on Minho's end. Anger flooded him the instant he saw Felix and Jisung.

Things had been going badly for him recently. He'd been in and out of the police station twice, his reputation had become a joke, and he was getting pressured on the career front too, after getting out.

Minho wished for nothing more now than to kill Felix and Jisung, the two who had started all of this.

Felix was just an enemy to Minho now. He felt that the old him who liked Felix must have been under the spell of some black magic for him to have been so reckless.

Their confrontation, however, was just some lame drama to Chan in the back. Chan was more interested in Jisung.

He'd been observing the changes in Jisung's face from the moment he'd spotted him. He had caught Jisung's momentary awkwardness and the stillness which had come over him later. He saw the familiar way in which Jisung showed tenderness to Felix, and his grey gaze grew deep.

Chan's admiration did not escape the notice of Felix.

Running into Minho was already enough to get Felix's guard up, and the appearance of Chan made him even warier.

Felix was young, but he was much more advanced than Minho in terms of mentality and attention to detail. He had sensed something between Jisung and Chan almost immediately and had a feeling that the two of them knew each other.

Felix was confused. Chan was Minho's Godfather, so what was Jisung's relationship with him?

He turned to look at Chan and Chan's gaze coincidentally met his.

The atmosphere became tense immediately.

Felix became all frosty, and he let out the inner wolf which he usually kept hidden. However, Chan was calm, like nothing could faze him.

Those silent few seconds were like a soundless battle. Felix's expression grew darker.

He'd remembered a person. That person who had rescued Jisung when he'd been drugged by Minho. He had a good background and had all the conditions to create demand in an unknown market. Chan was also the Godfather of Minho, and it was perfectly natural that he would be able to take Jisung from Minho's club without leaving a trace.

Felix also remembered the shirt on Jisung that day. That shirt was exactly the same as the one Chan had on now. So, the one who had saved Jisung back then was him. What he didn't know was if Jisung remembered Chan.

But Chan seemed to be deliberately smiling at Jisung elegantly, and Felix could see his eyes, full of interest, from his angle.

Felix instinctively tightened the hold he had around Jisung's waist.

Jisung turned and glanced at Felix.

'Damn it, the kitty was going to go crazy!' Jisung saw the interest in Chan's eyes too, and he suddenly had an urge to punch him.

Jisung understood that Chan was teasing Felix.

"No tricks." Jisung gave Chan a warning look, then tousled Felix's hair reassuringly and said gently, "Let's go home."

"Mm." Felix was compliant as always in front of Jisung.

This man, from what Felix knew of Jisung, was definitely the type that would pique Jisung's interests.

At that thought, Felix decided that he would need to make his moves more quickly.

The restaurant that Felix and Jisung had come to was the most famous Italian restaurant in Seoul, and many people were coming and going. This was why Minho didn't dare to do too much, even though he was angry. Felix decided too, that he did not want to start anything and simply left with Jisung.

Jisung had a strange feeling of after-disaster relief when he sat in the car.

Jisung looked at Felix, who was hugging him and rubbing his head against his ear and didn't know what to say.

He saw that he was not moving anymore, and pinched his neck gently, saying in a gentle voice, "Sleep for a bit if you're drunk."

Felix's face was all pouty. He had been all ready to fight Minho earlier and looked like he wouldn't give an inch, but he was deliberately acting cute now.

A youth of around 17 or 18 was at his peak in terms of looks, and Felix made full use of his looks ever since he discovered that Jisung liked beautiful young men. He leveraged his youth to act all cute and coy with him, and make himself so adorable that he'd want to hug him.

Felix saw that Jisung was being nice to him, so he was going to take full advantage of that, of course.

"You're attracting men left and right. You said that you'd wait for me." Felix said mildly annoyed.

"Back then, at the club, it was he who helped me. I can't just burn the bridge after I've crossed it, Felix. You have to be reasonable here." Jisung explained.

"No!" Felix hugged Jisung. Every fibre of his being was screaming that he was jealous and that he was going to keep making a fuss till he was satisfied. He mumbled, "I will be even more good looking than him in the future, and more amazing too. I'll love you more too so you have to wait for me, Sungie. You can't like him."

"Besides, Chan even took that moron Minho in as his Godson and put him in a position of power in the Lee family. Even a dumbass can tell how blind he is. Stay away from him, okay? Don't catch his stupid."

Felix was all flirty while throwing dirt on Chan. Jisung was charmed by his very obvious behaviour and felt that he was really just too adorable.

Jisung looked lost in thought when he thought that, and Felix took that chance to cause a little disturbance. He stole a kiss and got on Jisung's bed while hugging a pillow.

Later that night, after Felix had gone to sleep, Jisung quietly left the room. He unlocked his phone there was a message from Chan.

'Video call me when Felix is asleep.'

It looked a lot like an invitation to cheat. Jisung groaned to himself but still made the video call.

"Felix is asleep?" Chan sounded calm as always.

"Yeah, he is, and on my bed too. He also told me about you. You're Minho's young Godfather. Your eyes are so beautiful but you are so blind."

Chan was silent for a bit, then spoke in earnest, "I don't know how to discipline my Godson. Minho will be in your care from now on." 

'What the hell? Come on, be reasonable! He didn't want a braindead guy like Minho for a Godson..' Jisung thought. Minho had led his unattainable love to him, and now his Godfather was being delivered to his door.

Chan could see that he was conflicted, and he changed the subject. "Have you thought about what I proposed the other day?"

"I can consider us working together, but another person has to be added."

"Felix?" Chan asked.

'This was going to get a little troublesome.' Jisung's proposal disrupted Chan's prior plans.

"You take very good care of him." Chan's calm.

"Of course. I like young children like Felix." Jisung laughed lightly, and his laugh was fairly alluring. Even over the phone, Chan felt like he was being seduced.

"Jealous? Then hurry up and keep your distance from me. I can be a scumbag." Jisung leaned against the balcony, and his tone of voice took on laziness as he said into the phone, "Hold the phone a little further away."

"What for?" Chan did as asked.

Jisung looked closely at Chan for a bit and was stunned.

Maybe it was because it was night time, but Chan looked more gentle than he did during the day. That coldness he had about him seemed to have melted away and his smiling face was especially warm.

He said to Chan, who was on the other end of the video call, "Let's talk tomorrow. It's quite late now, and don't bully my kitty the next time we meet."

The words "my kitty" just slipped out, of course. Chan didn't mind, but he minded Jisung's indulgence in Felix very much.

Things were more serious than he'd thought.

Jisung was someone who liked beautiful children, and he not only liked to take care of them but was willing to invest in pampering them too.

Chan found it all very interesting, but he was not going to back down. Even if he wasn't a Puritan, he was very willing to be one for Jisung.

Chan unexpectedly said something in German and hung up.

Saying good night in a foreign language? Jisung was stared blankly for a bit but he did not think more of it.

What he did not notice was Felix, who had got up at an unknown time. He was standing in the bedroom doorway, and he narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Chan had said, "good night, my darling" in German. Felix had worked with a German actor in one of his past movies, so he knew this line well. He also knew that this line was most frequently used on a partner.

'This person was a threat.' Felix was sensitive to this man's intentions towards Jisung, and he frowned as his eyes glittered dangerously and there was no trace of drunkenness anymore. This change, however, passed in just an instant. Felix returned to bed long before Jisung came back to the room.

Felix would not give up, and in his subconscious too, was a voice which kept telling him that Jisung could only be his.

\--------

Everything had been going quite smoothly for Jisung, other than his daily worry that things would go horribly wrong the next day. Even the preparations for the new designs he had were almost complete. Jisung had been lacking in funds at first but Chan's joining in of this venture meant that money was the easiest problem to solve.

Jisung listened to his assistant's report and sighed to himself. He instructed his subordinate to "do as planned".

The news of Jisung carrying on with business as usual made Minho very mad when he heard about it. He had not expected that Jisung would actually try to compete with him in business.

The main focus of Minho's business was indeed on the entertainment industry, but in recent years, he had slowly started expanding in other areas. Holiday accommodations for tourists were the trend now, and Minho wanted to strike while the iron was hot and build a chain of hotels.

According to the plan that Minho's subordinate had laid out, a resort hotel very similar to the one in "Swapping Lives" had been designed, riding on the popularity of the programme. However, the plan had only just been written when Jisung had stomped all over it.

Jisung was planning on building a guesthouse.

"Heh heh, family-owned guesthouses run by a group of regular people? They can't even provide standard basic service and they want to try to grab a slice of the pie. What overreaching peasants," mocked Minho.

The assistant next to him made no move to agree with him and reminded him instead. "President Lee, it's rumoured that Young Master Seo will be working with him."

"Felix?" Minho suddenly thought of the latest app the Seo family had launched. It seemed to be a platform related to rooms. If Felix planned on working with him...

No. He would definitely work with him. Jisung was like a drug to Felix. He was bewitched. Plus, Seungmin was a well-known prince in his circles, and he had thrown away his dignity for Jisung in insisting on being Jisung's little brother. He kept saying 'Our hyung Sung' all the time, and anyone who said anything negative about his big brother was immediately attacked. He was even more difficult to deal with than a rabid dog. Jisung had been pulled right into the inner circles of Seoul, and the fact that Jisung had taken back his inheritance from his scummy relatives meant that he was nouveau riche, even though his foundation of wealth was unstable.

The past matter of Jisung being a kept pet was what made Minho most angry. Who would have thought that Jisung would have his name washed clean of it? Back then, he had been a toy, picked off the streets like a puppy. Now, he was being called a man of deep love.

In the eyes of many people, Jisung had tolerated all mistreatment because of his love for him. Minho knew what the reality was.

Jisung was the sliest one. He could bite a chunk out of him whenever he wished, and he had been obedient only because he had not come of age yet. Jisung was rebelling right away now that he got the chance to do so.

Thinking that Minho decided that he must correct this Jisung, just this once, otherwise he would be not living up to this humiliation which had been placed on him.

Minho made his move, and he did it swiftly and aggressively. Renovations were about to begin on the resort hotel, and he was going to tie it in with a promotion with "Swapping Lives". It was still ranking high in popularity, so a large amount of traffic was coming in even when the hotel had not started running yet.

Jisung, on the other hand, was keeping things under wraps and it looked like he was keeping quiet and away from the spotlight because he could not beat his competition.

Interestingly enough, Jisung was quiet but Felix, as a partner, was surprisingly busy. Felix's movements were actually quite thought-provoking to most people.

He had actually brought someone into the entertainment industry, and the first project he'd got was an online variety show. It wasn't just this. Felix had planned this online variety show to set the foundation for promotion for Jisung's guesthouse.

It was rumoured that the filming location of this online variety show of Felix's was going to be in the guesthouse that Jisung renovated.

The Seo family ran a media company but they were more skilled in the matters of public relations. And the Seo family tended to specialise in the large screen, so variety shows are quite rare for them.

So, even an outsider could tell that this great venture of Felix's was not about money at all. It was simply to make Jisung happy.

Even so, they were not very optimistic about his chances.

The fight between Jisung and Minho was a lost one in the eyes of the people in the industry. Minho had Chan as his backer. Chan rarely lent a hand as Godfather to Minho, but he was sure to lend help because of principles.

Minho had been quite aggressive in his search for a partner to work with too. He hired a design company which was most famous in the industry, and the designers involved in the project were all people who had won national prizes.

In comparison, Jisung had just a group of ordinary newbies. Jisung's parents had been leaders in the industry but Jisung was a complete outsider. He could still pull the wool over the eyes of the general public but he was no match for true insiders in the industry.

"I'm gonna predict that the Seo family is going to lose money this time."

"I don't think so. That app's operating model and the concept behind it is good, and even if Jisung does not deliver the company can just move on to work with Minho. Or maybe they can move their focus elsewhere. They can do lots of things."

"I think it's unlikely. Felix is the object of desire for Minho, and Jisung has a history with Minho. Felix is going around with Jisung now, so Minho is getting reaaaal played. Why would he pick them again?"

"That's not right. He did like Felix for a long time. Didn't you hear what they said? Minho is more or less a failure now, but we just don't know how big of a failure he is. He got out of detention recently and he got a new plaything already. But see, his new plaything didn't look like Felix anymore. He obviously looked like Jisung..."

"That's no surprise. I'd be tempted too if I had a person like Jisung. Minho can just go choke on his loss. Tsk, tsk, tsk. He had him by his side for years and the little bird flew away before he could touch it."

The discussions all went back to the old topic of Minho getting played.

Few people did play around in these circles, but only Minho had had his plaything come back and bite him in the ass.

After all the gossiping, the discussion went back to the collaboration. They were still not optimistic about Jisung's ability to compete with Minho.

\--------

Jisung was sitting with Chan, having tea while listening to Chan's assistant report about the latest trends.

When Jisung heard that all the people thought that Minho would likely be infallible when he had Chan as his Godfather backing him up. He found it difficult to drink the tea he had in his hand.

Now that things had come to this, Jisung felt a little sorry for Minho, especially since he was the one who had plotted all this. Even the leg he had clung to for years was going to kick him away without hesitation. Just thinking of it made Jisung feel that he was quite tragic.

He put down the teacup and asked Chan, "Isn't he your Godson? You know that he's going to be hit badly by this. Why aren't you helping him?"

Chan's answer was quite serious. "He's going to be your Godson in the future too so it's very normal for you to discipline him. Besides, the child will only know how to reflect on himself when he's fallen hard." 

"A hard fall indeed. But the money he will lose is still going to go into your pockets and multiply too. That's too much, especially from you, as his Godfather." Jisung looked at Chan as he spoke, and a touch of appreciation flashed in his eyes.

Spending the afternoon with a beautiful person while enjoying some black tea was quite nice. Plus, that scum Minho didn't even have his backing now. There was not going to be much meaning in playing with him. Jisung decided to speed up.

\--------

On Minho's end, the construction process for his project was also going to start very soon. The building had already been built after all, and it was just lacking the design and publicity for the business. However, just as Minho was about to go all out, he received a piece of news which shocked him.

Jisung's guesthouse concept was going to be announced, and the date of the press conference he had arranged was on the same day as his! Jisung had also asked someone to pass a message on to him.

Minho was so angry that he threw his phone. At that moment, however, he had a flash of inspiration and thought that he could pass this message on to Felix himself.

From what Minho could see, Felix was Jisung's most important business partner right now. If Felix stopped giving him support, Jisung was screwed. After all, Han Crafts was just a small stand compared to family-owned conglomerates like theirs and had no fighting power. Felix, too, would not accept Jisung having another lover on the side.

So if he told him what Jisung had said, Felix, with his character, would definitely cut ties with Jisung right away and hate him to the core. An enemy's enemy was a friend. He could work with Felix then.

Minho made a call to Felix with that thought in mind.

"Jisung sent someone with a message for me, saying that he was going to make fool of me again with some person. Do you know who that person is, Felix?" Minho's tone was nasty but he was fairly excited. He controlled his breathing, waiting nervously for Felix's response. He had already envisioned Felix's angry face when he discovered that he had been lied to.

Surprisingly, on the other end of the line, Felix laughed. He said meaningfully, "You really are stupid, Minho."

He hung up. The pity and mocking in his words made Minho feel like he was calling him a weak, ignorant child.

Minho was dumbfounded. He threw this phone.

"He's mad. They're all fucking mad! It's like that Jisung cast a spell on Felix." Minho was so mad that steam could come from his nostrils. He decided to prepare well for the upcoming press conference. He was going to slap Jisung in the face this time, and make sure he lost badly!

\--------

A week passed swiftly and it was time for the press conference.

It was 10:30 a.m. in the Dori Hotel lobby. Quite a few of the reports were dazzled by the exquisite furnishing of the place when they stepped through the lobby doors. Many were stunned later when they saw the promotional video.

Minho had really outdone himself. He had hired the best design team and the best advertising company. The promotional video that had been created had scenes even more beautifully perfect than any artistic blockbuster movie. The rooms, decorated with a fineness not lost in their elegance, and the six-star hotel service were very attractive indeed.

"We dare guarantee that the Dori Hotel is currently the only resort hotel in the country to be eligible to apply for a six-star rating." Several reporters were surprised by what the presenter said. Korea did currently have hotels with equivalent standards to a six-star hotel, but there was no hotel which could really be eligible to apply for a six-star rating.

"So the Dori Hotel is actually that grand?"

"That's astonishing."

"The promotional video was really amazing. There are no great discrepancies between the real shots of it at the end of the video too. It truly is the best resort hotel in Korea."

Minho sat facing the stage, looking smugly on. He was finally feeling good like he had recovered lost ground. His delight, however, was short-lived. His subordinate came running in under five minutes, saying anxiously, "President Lee, President Lee! It's bad!"

"What's bad?" Minho's heart sank. He hurriedly took the tablet from his subordinate's hands and to see what it was. Minho froze.

It was completely unexpected. While he was in his own hotel holding a press conference, the concept advertisement of Jisung's guesthouses and homestay platform had made waves on the internet and even made it into the hot search terms.

As for the six-star hotel he was so proud of, it was rubbish compared to Jisung's concept advertisement.

The target audiences for a six-star hotel and a guesthouse were different, of course, but Jisung had the advantage of the guesthouses and homestays being more convenient and wallet-friendly and had made that his selling point. He had captured the attention of the public.

What was the guesthouse and homestay concept? It was a way to let yourself stay cosily in a place like your own home while enjoying the different cultures and traditions of different regions. The emphasis was on affordability, and that was what made guesthouses and homestays so attractive.

Jisung's guesthouse and homestay platform fit this.

It turned out that while Minho had been busy building up to his big day, and Jisung had looked like he was keeping a low profile, he was actually leading his team personally in making preparations. Jisung's first stop had been Busan City.

Busan City was also a place where guesthouses and homestays would be quite prevalent, and that was why Jisung had picked it for his first stop.

The rooms were only a dozen square metres or so and didn't need much renovation. Some decoration was added to the balconies, and that made the rooms most suitable to the tastes of young people in the arts who were looking for beauty. Simplicity and elegance was the main theme here.

And his second stop was Jeju.

The third stop, the fourth stop, the fifth stop...

Jisung finally brought his team back to Seoul.

All of the places which Jisung and his team went were all recorded, made into concept videos, and the videos sent to travel-loving netizens.

To put it simply, Jisung's guesthouse platform was like a link to mutual benefit. Jisung's company was selling designs, and individuals were buying Jisung's designs. After buying these designs and renovating their rooms into guesthouses or homestays, these people could also use the platform to rent their properties out. Felix was the operator behind the platform app's software.

At the same time, the variety show which Felix had worked so long on was officially aired, and the popularity and advantage of having celebrities soon far outstripped the prestige of Minho's hotel.

Their businesses were similar in that they were "selling" beautiful houses and rooms but compared to Minho's six-star hotel, Jisung's platform concept was much more to the public's tastes and consumer inclinations.

After all, six-star hotels were nice but the price difference had decided the number of scope of the market. Jisung's platform concept, too, had a high-end market like the villa rentals. Those were without star ratings but they were not any worse than starred hotels.

Minho read the feedback of the netizens and abruptly realised what Jisung meant when he said he would be played again. What he had meant was not feelings, but in business. Minho had wanted to test the waters in the tourism industry but he had been cut adrift by Jisung. Even the promotion campaigns he had done for his business had ended up propping up Jisung higher.

He shut his eyes sorrowfully and felt the strength leave his body. He could not figure out just how he had ended up in the state he was in today. He had lost to Jisung.

\--------

Jisung and Felix had just finished promoting the platform concept and were having dinner together.

"Well done. You've worked hard." Jisung looked at Felix's face, gaunt from busyness, and filled his soup bowl. "You've lost weight. You have to eat more."

"It's because I missed you." Felix did not reach his hand out to take the bowl. He drank from the bowl while Jisung held it, and smiled in satisfaction. "Tasty."

Jisung pushed food to Felix as he ate too, and watched him finish his food before he started discussing business matters.

Work matters were always troublesome. It was almost ten in the evening when the two of them were done talking. This time, Felix did not make a fuss about going home with Jisung. Instead, it seemed like he had something else to tend to, and got ready to go home after he sent Jisung to his door.

Before he left, though, he said to Jisung, "Sungie, remember to watch the news at noon tomorrow. I have a present for you."

"What present?" asked Jisung curiously.

Felix had smiled mysteriously, indicating that it was a secret, and drove off. Jisung watched him leave and a strange suspicion bloomed in his heart.

\--------

Felix called his cousin on his way home. "Are you all prepared to deal with Minho?"

"No problem. Just the Dori Hotel problems would be enough to make him lose everything he invested. Besides, there are those bits of information too. Minho will find it difficult to get out of prison if he gets thrown in this time."

"Good. Make our move!"

"But Lixie, are you sure you're going to settle the problem of Minho now? Doesn't Jisung still..."

"He won't mind. Don't worry about it and listen to me." Felix hung up right after he said that.

His cousin was right. Felix did not have to rush to get rid of Minho. In truth, Felix could not wait any longer.

\--------

Another big thing happened that night in Seoul.

Another big thing happened that night in Seoul.

Minho's Dori Hotel had been unexpectedly sealed up. The reason for it was straightforward indoor formaldehyde contamination above the allowed limits. 

Formaldehyde levels above the allowed limits could lead to cancer. A hidden danger like this was something which absolutely could not be allowed in an establishment which was of standards high enough to apply for a six-star hotel rating.

Practically all of the people who knew Minho and about the Dori Hotel were shocked when the news was out. On Twitter, the news spread even more quickly.

# Problems Found in Highly-priced Hotel – The candidate hotel for a six-star rating, The Dori Hotel, was found to have formaldehyde levels above the allowed limits on its first day of operations.

"Woah, Woah, holy crap! You call this a six-star hotel when the formaldehyde contamination levels are above limits? Did the relevant departments not do their checks before the launch date?"

"So scary! Just thinking about it scares me. Formaldehyde poisoning is one of the hidden causes of cancer too. One night there might be fine, but what if you're unlucky?!"

"Ugh, such as evil people. Hey, why does this President Minho guy sound so familiar?"

"Of course he's familiar. He's the guy from a few days ago who made advances on a minor and got his balls kicked!"

"He's scum, just like I thought!"

Minho was under great pressure. Felix's later meddling to guide public opinion served to push Minho further into the worst of the storm. Practically everyone knew that Minho had built a six-star hotel which could cause cancer in the end. There was no digging himself out of this grave!

Meanwhile, an investigation warrant was quickly handed down. Minho had no way to ask for help and failed to save the situation. With no other choice left to him, he went to Chan, hoping that his young Godfather would lend him a helping hand.

However, he had just walked through the door when he saw a scene which made his world collapse.

Jisung had pressed Chan down on the sofa, and it looked like he was about to kiss him.

Minho was thunderstruck. He stood in the doorway and didn't know how to react.

He had actually misunderstood. Jisung had pushed Chan down not because he wanted to kiss him, but because he had tripped on the carpet. Minho was quite obviously shaken by what he had seen, however, and he could not hear Jisung's explanation.

He even wanted to ask Jisung why. Jisung could have Seungmin or any other person in their circles and it wouldn't matter but why was it, Chan? This was even more severe than a death sentence to Minho.

How Chan acted towards Jisung next made Minho come to a realisation, and he finally understood why his plans had been failing. This was why.

"You've sure made it in the world, Jisung. No wonder you can expand your little business so much. You've got the backing of my Godfather." Minho finally got over his shock after a long while, and he moved forward intending to pull Jisung away from Chan.

Jisung dodged him quickly. He dodged him, and then deliberately sat even closer to Chan.

"Stop putting labels on me. Chan and I have a normal work relationship. As for what you're imagining there... Well, believe it or not, your Godfather would probably get down on his knee right away and propose to me if I'm willing."

"Wh, What did you say?" Minho was shocked by what Jisung said, and he turned his head to look at Chan in reflex, to see if it was true. He got a confirmation from Chan.

"Yes, it's true. I can propose to Jisung at any time as long as he's willing." Chan's tone of voice was sincere.

Minho was stupefied by what he saw. He stared at them both and didn't know how to react.

This was absurd. He could not understand how all of this had happened. He'd groomed a substitute, a plaything called Jisung, but this Jisung had turned the tables on him in a short span of half a year and gifted him such a big present.

First, he'd bewitched the one Minho had lusted after, and now he'd even toppled his Godfather. Judging from how Chan was all obedient to Jisung now, it looked like he would give him everything he asked for. Minho had been serving Chan for eight years now, and he had never seen him act in an amiable way towards anyone before.

'What could this be if not love?'

How laughable. He'd treated him as his plaything and now he was his 'Dad'.

He looked numbly at Jisung, clueless as to how to address him. He looked at Chan and got a look of disgust.

"Go home if you have no business here! And remember to prepare the papers for the transfer of the Lee Group's work. From tomorrow on, the president of the Lee Group will be the eldest child of your cousin's family."

"Why?" A chill struck Minho's heart. His first thought was that Jisung had been behind this.

Chan tossed a document file at him. "Settle the cases you're involved in first before you ask me why."

He had someone send Minho out as soon as he was done speaking. Minho was stunned as he held the document file in his hand.

In the file was the evidence of his tax evasion and bribery over the years. Every account was recorded clearly, and the last two words of the appendix told him very plainly that the originals of these documents had already been handed over to the relevant departments of jurisdiction. What was left was just to await the trial and final judgement.

Chan, through his actions, had just told him that he had been abandoned, and there would be no chance of him ever surfacing again. It was quite possible too that the rest of his days would be spent in prison, never to see the light of the free world again.

He finally understood that he was well and truly done for, and also finally realised what Jisung had meant by him being played. He had clearly meant Chan. 

Minho's destruction came sooner than everyone had expected. They had guessed that it would happen when Jisung's guesthouse platform concept had far outstripped Minho's six-star hotel, but they had never guessed that Minho would fall so fast, and be so utterly without recourse.

Even the person at the head of the Lee family had been changed to another.

This chain of events made people very curious. All of these events were not without Jisung's name being passed around too, and he became even more well-known in the inner circles of Seoul.

He was just starting now, but he had already gotten the acknowledgement of the masses. Quite a few people were wary of him too, and they felt that he was not one they could afford to anger. They had to be prepared for the onslaught if they became his enemy.

What they did not know, however, was that Minho, the one suffering from the consequences of his own actions, was the one who regretted it the most.

He was sentenced fairly quickly since just the two counts of tax evasion and exceeding formaldehyde contamination limits were enough to put him in prison for ten years. But there was actually someone who reported him under suspicion of being a pedophile later in the proceedings. This person had exposed a summary of Minho grooming substitutes over the years too. The stain on Minho's name could never be washed away with that revelation.

The public cursed him, the people around him ridiculed him, and even the other inmates in prison looked down their noses at him. Minho was not a man but a cruel and unscrupulous scoundrel of the worst kind who even targeted children.

"No... I'm not..." He had lost count of how many times he had been hit. Minho tried weakly to explain, but that only got him an even harsher beating. Fortunately for him, the prison wardens interrupted this humiliation and handed him some notebooks. 

"This is from someone on the outside. Read through them!"

Minho took the notebooks. He glanced at them and a sneer appeared on his face. "Jisung, you bitch!"

He murmured curses under his breath and flung the notebooks away.

'Jisung had caused him to end up in this state, and he was now giving him these love-filled pages? Did he take him for an idiot?' Minho thought.

If Jisung's show of deep love for him was to put him in prison, then it would be best if all the couples in this world were unhappy.

With all his cursing, Minho was not willing to read a single word. But he did read it all in the end.

There was no other reason. Life in prison was really just too boring. In the beginning, he had found it laughable. At thirteen, Jisung had been so soft and immature in his speech that he was not worth notice. The labels of 'benefactor' and 'saviour' also made Minho feel like a sham.

However, true feelings could not be faked. The confession on that day, that first summer day, and the hopes for the future when he was grown. Every word burned as it cut through his heart and melted his soul. The words detailing his toils in life, and the words of encouragement he gave himself, made Minho's heartache uncontrollably for him. (A/N: Just wanted to clarify that everything written before the day old Jisung confessed was written by old Jisung and everything after old Jisung found out he was substitute was written by new Jisung to make Minho feel guiltier.)

This was the first Minho knew of how exhausting Jisung's life had been. It was also the first time he realised how hard he had struggled. Losing his parents, being pressured by his scummy relatives, school violence, and worries about living expenses. All these were not burdens a boy of his age should have to bear, but Jisung had borne them all.

Minho's heart of hate for Jisung wavered. When he read the line 'this man is my saviour', his heart squeezed with a fine pain. He knew that Jisung had not lied about this.

He read on, about Jisung's desperate hopes for adulthood, how he had prepared his gift so carefully to make his confession. Minho abruptly felt like he could not turn the page. As one of the persons involved in the story, he knew well what was going to happen next.

'I've woken up from my dream. I am just a substitute. No one in this world will love me.'

The diary ended there. Tears were streaming from Minho's eyes. It was only then that he realised what he had lost.

He also understood why Felix and Chan wanted Jisung. Minho's great realisation was followed by regret, though it was too late. He had fallen for Felix back then and fallen so hard that he went looking for substitutes because he had actually wanted a perfect lover. What he had never imagined was that Felix was not that perfect lover. The substitutes were not either. Unnoticed in a corner, Jisung had worked hard to grow up, and into the perfect one, he had wanted.

But in the end, he had lost him.

The saddest thing for people was not unattainable, but to have had something all along unnoticed, then lose it. Tears sprang instantly from Minho's eyes. Remorse choked him, made him unable to breathe.

He had spent five years with Jisung but fell for him in just an instant. But what was the use of that? There was no way he could have the love he wanted in his lifetime, and Jisung would never forgive him.

\--------

"A young successful businessman was found dead in his house. The reason for the death was suicide..." 

Jisung killed himself after a year of this happening when he didn't get any notice from the System that he could leave the world. His main focus was to take revenge on Minho and he had done it. 

Felix was the one who found Jisung dead in his villa. That day he planned on confessing to Jisung again, hoping that he would agree.

However, he found Jisung dead on his bed. He never thought Jisung would just leave him like that. He never expected a day like this would come. 

He found a letter written for him.

'I am sorry for leaving you. You will forever be in my heart. I am leaving my business in your name. You can take care of it if you want to or you can sell it. I hope you will follow your dream and be happy.'

Felix knew that by 'in my heart' Jisung meant that, he would be in his heart as a younger brother.

\--------

After the death of Jisung, a lot of netizens were miserable. There were many clips of Jisung in 'Swapping lives' going around on the internet. Everyone expressed how sad they were.

Felix had taken Jisung's business. He made sure that it will stay number 1 even after the death of Jisung. As for Jisung's wish for him to be happy, he couldn't do it. He could not be happy in a world, where there is no Jisung.

As for Chan, he didn't know what to do. He had the most power in Seoul but that power could not bring his Jisung back to life. Nobody heard from him after Jisung's funeral but he still stayed as the most powerful person in Seoul.

Minho, who found out about Jisung's death from someone he knew couldn't help but blame himself for everything. He broke down crying in front of everyone, no longer caring about his pride and reputation.

As for Seungmin, he was sent aboard for studying when he read the news. He quickly came back to Korea to attend Jisung's funeral. He then partnered with Felix to take care of Jisung's business.


	8. Announcement

So I wanted to announce to the people who read this story on Wattpad originally. 

I don't like the third 'world' in the Wattpad story so I will not include that in here. Instead, I will be adding another 'world' which will be the fourth 'world' in Wattpad. If you read the few chapters of the third world in Wattpad and liked it, I would recommend you to keep reading it on Wattpad because I will not add them here. 

I will continue this book after I am done with the third world on Wattpad and another book on Wattpad. If you want to check out the third world, please go to Wattpad. @real_skz_jisung. But like if you guys really want the third 'world' I will post it here but it doesn't really fit it. 

I would like to thank everyone for their positive comments on the chapters. Thank you very much.


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